Wreck n' Rule
by Kay79
Summary: Everybody knows about the magnificent Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, and his enemy, the ruthless and notorious Decepticon leader, Megatron. The story of the Autobot and Decepticon war will always be remembered. But, what about the toughest, meanest Autobot team to ever fight in the war? The Wreckers. Moonracer/Twin Twist Springer/Arcee
1. Prologue

Chapter 1

Prologue

All characters belong to Transformers and Hasbro. This is my second fanfic besides Flashdrive and the Autobots. I promise, I'm going to finish this fic as much as I can. I hope you guys enjoy and save it as your favorites. Hopefully, this fic will get a lot of reads =). Thank you!

She rushed through the trees of the Amazon and left a trail of pink energon behind her. The cut on her arm was bleeding out quickly, and she had to find somewhere to patch herself up. The young femme yelped as rain kept hitting her wound, it was burning so badly, she had to tie it up. "Ova' there!" A male sounding voice with a Indian accent shouted. "Oh Primus!"

There seemed to be no building around, and she had to find shelter immediately. _C'mon, isn't there a cave around here somewhere?_ Fortunately, it was, and it was big enough for her to stay in for the night. She ran inside it's entrance. It was pretty dark in it too ... but would she rather lose her life to humans, or stay in the darkness temporarily and hide? Her optics spotted someone's flashlight peering in the cave. Covering her mouth with her servos, the light stayed there for a moment, it's holder pondering to look inside.

"Inku! Get here now! It's no way she could fit in that small cave!" The light finally disappeared as the anxious femme took a deep, long sigh. "That, was intense." She started to get out her first aid kit from her compartment. On Cybertron, she had learned a few quick medical tips while training in the academy, it was mandatory for everybody to learn it anyways. She took out a bandage and covered it with a medical substance called chemi-freeze. This medicine used its remarkable healing abilities to freeze a wound for a temporary amount of time. There was more in her compartment, so she had a few days worth of it.

She slowly tied the bandage around it and patted the inflicted spot. "Don't worry. We're gonna fix you, arm. As soon as we find our kind. As soon as we find-" Her holo-diary was glowing in her bag, and she raised an optic brow. "What's this?" Taking it out, there were notes that she had written down from the beginning of the war to now. "Maybe, I should start a new one." Her digit clicked the screen and a little keypad came up. It automatically had the date and she started to type:

"This, was another crazy day."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Beginning

He got up and surveyed the Cybertronian sun that shined through his home's window. "Well, thanks for blinding me, right after I onlined, damn." He rubbed his optics with his digits in a circular motion as the holo clock sitting on his table went off. "Good mornin', good mornin' Cybertron! This is ya' host Blaster! I'm here to start off the day!" That's one thing Impactor hated. A wake up call.

He yawned and stretched his body, rubbing the sore spot on his chassis. Talking about a sore spot. "Hey, weren't you supposed to be gone?" A femme's protoform wriggled beneath the sheets on his berth. "No, I'm not leaving. Not yet." She replied sleepily. He grunted and pulled the sheets away from her naked body. "Hey! What the hell, can you give a girl some off-lining for a few nano-clicks?" Impactor chuckled and shook his helm. "Look sweetheart, I have stuff to do, nothing personal." His optics were telling a different story though. More of a "spare me the coolant and get the frag out" kind of look. The confused femme rubbed at her optics and stared down at her pedes, scoffed, and then shook her helm. "But, but, you said that I was the prettiest femme you ever saw, and you loved me, and you said we could spend some time together."

Impactor smirked and put his servos on his upper thighs. "How do I break this down to ya'? Oh yeah. I think last night I was drinkin' too much high grade, couldn't exactly think with my processor right. I don't think you were talkin' to the real me darlin'. If anything, I think you were talkin' to the drunk and outta his mind Impactor." The femme sniffled, got up, and then started to put on her red armor. "I hope I never see you again you bastard!" Impactor laughed, "Thanks sweetie, I get that a lot!" And with that, she rushed out and slammed the door. "Femmes. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em."

Of course, he wasn't lying when he said "he had stuff to do". He had a lot of stuff to do. Much important stuff to do.

"And this, is the great Alpha Trion's library." All of the tourist bots wowed at the historical sight in front of them, taking holo-vids and pictures while staring amazingly at the sight. "He never comes out of there. Only when special events happen does he stand on his patio and watch from great heights above. He's also very secretive, and never gives speeches nor gives information on his personal life." The tour leader smiled at the sight one more time before exclaiming, "Well, we should move on to what else Crystal City has to offer. Right along this way, you'll find the institution of organic exhibits." One red, yellow, and black Cybertronian stayed behind marveling at the huge archive.

"Someday, I've gotta be there. You think I can be there 'Fist?" When no one answered, the young mech looked around for his friend. "'Fist? 'Fist!" He walked around the streets of Crystal City looking for his lost friend and kept saying his name. "I can never take this mech anywhere without him wandering off and getting lost." Turning on his communication device, he tried to ping him, until he spotted the lost mech looking through a gun shop's window. "Ironfist! Do you know I was looking for you everywhere?" Ironfist gestured his friend with a subtle wave of his servo as he replied, "Yeah yeah yeah. But take a look at these guns. You can't find shops like this in Praxus."

"Damn! I think we lost the tourist group because of your foolish actions." Ironfist turned around and smiled mischieviously. "Oops, my bad Pyro. But c'mon, let's check and see what they have in here." Pyro rolled his optics and frowned. "Ironfist. If you plan on buying anything, forget it! We can't spend all of our credits on a stupid gun for your little toy collection. Plus, you left your weapon identification card back at home, remember?" Ironfist smirked and took out his card which he held in his compartment. "Well, scratch that. But the bottom line is, it's a waste of money getting something you don't need. Don't you think?"

"Fine Pyro! For the love of Primus, can you just let go of your serious attitude? I'm just looking around."

"What about the tourist group? We're missing out!"

"Pyro, my buddy, we will catch up to them in no time."

As they looked around the shop (specifically Ironfist), they both saw a gun that even Pyro couldn't keep his optics off of. "This. Baby. Is. Beautiful." Ironfist said lovingly. Pyro wasn't the type to be into guns (or any kind of weapon and violence for that matter) but he chuckled and replied, "Yeah. It's a looker."

"Are you looking to buy?" The pair turned around as the gun shop owner smiled at them. "Oh, oh no, sir. My friend and I were just looking."

"Don't listen to this guy! How much does that sucker cost?" The gun shop owner put a digit on his chin and shrugged. "Well, I was gonna sell it for about one thousand credits, but no one barely buys weapons anyways, so I lowered the price to a good seven hundred and ninety credits." Ironfist grinned widely as Pyro looked at him and knew exactly what he was thinking. Starting to pull his friend away from the display, he shyly responded, "No thanks sir. I think we're gonna get going though, you know, we have so much other stuff to do."

"Well, don't hesitate to stop by again!" And with that the two walked out the store as Pyro pulled Ironfist by his servo. "Please Pyro! I say, we spend most of my credits on it, and you just spend half of yours, and I'll pay you back once we get home." Pyro disregarded his friends attempt to help buy him the gun as he pulled him on the metal-walks. "No way Ironfist! You have enough of those violent things at home! These credits buy us energon, holovids, and more things to try here. I mean, can't you believe it-" Pyro let his friend go as he dropped to the ground and stared up at him, "We're in the most beautiful,cultural, and most technologically advanced city on Cybertron! What's something greater we could ask for?"

Ironfist got up and brushed himself off as he snootily uttered, "You're getting too worked up over some city. That gun, was extraordinary, not these white-tinfoil buildings!" Pyro couldn't help but let out a dry laugh at his friend's mopiness. "One day, when we save you from your obsessions with guns, then you'll be able to see the beauty of Cybertron and the Crystal City. But, for now, let's just head back to the tourist group."

"Fine." Ironfist said grumpily. As they started to walk across the street to the other side of the metal-walk, two blue and white cars sped through, almost running them over. "Hey you fraggers! Watch where ya' goin' next time!" Ironfist angrily shouted, a servoin the air. A police drone followed knocking Ironfist to the ground as Pyro laughed at his unfortunate friend.

"Woo-hoo!" One of the cars went over a hump in the middle of the street which made him fly up. "This speed upgrade is crazy Twist!" Another car, which had drill horns on the front of it chased behind him. "'Spin! Police at twelve o'clock!" The sirens from the police drone blared out as it's white, red, and blue lights shined brightly. "Attention! Suspects! Come to a halt immediately!"

"Can't you believe this scrap 'Spin! They want us in jail because we're havin' a little fun!" Both of the mechs were having their sort of "fun" today, which was speeding through the streets, causing havoc, and scaring bots out of their protoforms. "Attention! We will not tell you to surrender again! Put your vehicle to a stop now!" Topspin laughed and shouted back, "You and what army!" There was an army alright. "What the frag?!" A bunch of police drones were sitting in front of them, waiting for both of the delinquent's arrival. It was no choice, they both had to stop.

A loud screech came from both of their platings as they both were only inch away from the other drones. "Penalty: You will be sent to court, hereby decreed by the Crystal City for: causing maximum damage to buildings, city items, people, and for speeding. You have the right to remain silent and to transform back to your robotic modes." One of the mechs transformed to reveal Top Spin, as the other one revealed himself to be Twin Twist. "We know the drill, drone. Just take us to the station." Twin Twist answered bitterly. Both mechs were put in cuffs and sent to the police station.

"Can you believe this scrap-" Both of them sat on a bench with a bunch of other mechs and femmes, awaiting to see the Chief. "We didn't hurt anybody, we barely touched a single thing on the metal walks." Top Spin fussed as he rubbed his optics of dust and particles. "Ain't that the truth. As soon as we earn some more credits we're goin' to Velocitron." Twin Twist replied and smirked. That was the plan. They were going to move to Velocitron, the rules were so much better there. They had speeding lanes, and in Crystal City, it was so slow paced, and so disgustingly peaceful. The T brothers hated it. The secretary came back out the desk and announced the unfortunate bots who had to see the chief. "Top Spin and Twin Twist? Chief Prowl would like to see you now." Although the twins barely held fear, the fear of meeting one of the most notorious chiefs in all of Cybertron made their fuel lines boil.

Getting up from the metal bench, they made their way into the chief's office, as the white and gray mech welcomed them with unpleasant optics. "Sit. Both of you." The twins never sat down so fast in their whole lives. Getting out a data pad, he read the following crimes that they had broken. "So, what do we got here? Let's see. Speeding, speeding away from the authorities, damaging Crystal City's property, and the property of other individuals, and almost hitting a few mechs and femmes." Before the brothers could reply, Prowl but a servo up and calmly brang it back down. "So, is there any last words of why I shouldn't send your sorry afts to Iacon's Penitentiary right now?"

Both of them stayed quiet for a cycle not knowing what so say, even though they wanted to say what they thought. "Look, Prowl-"

"Chief! Prowl." Twin Twist paused and corrected his wording, "Chief, Prowl. Me and my brother will do anything. Community service, pit, we'll scrub your floors and be your personal servants for as many stellar cycles as you want us to." Prowl raised an optic ridge as he thought of the pairs proposal, but, they had quite a record, and ultimately, they were causing trouble wherever they went. "I am charging you up to five stellar cycles in the Iacon Penitentiary, hopefully this will give you some time to think about your actions."

"What the frag!" Both of them shouted as they were taken out of the office by security drones. Once they left, Prowl got back to going through data pads and eyeing who else deserved to meet their fate. On the wall beside him, a poster of Iacon sat there.

"You know what they say, what goes on in Iacon stays in Iacon." His tall navy blue protoform and one optic made him stand out from the other patients at Iacon Psychological Institute. Although he was the only one there that didn't seem to have any mental illnesses, people were still scared of him. He was mysterious, quiet, and a ticking bomb waiting to explode if the wrong bot tried him.

"Of course, that saying has always been true." He thought and said out loud. His bright, yellow optic looked up at the holo-screen that was showing one of those boring opera shows. _They should really start switching these channels_ , he thought to himself. "Hey! One optic!" The calm mech looked up at the faceplate of another fellow patient. "Well, hello. Is there anything you need help with?"

"Yeah, I'm tryin' to find somewhere to sit." Oh yeah, he knew what this mech was called, Bane. He had slight anger issues. Well, slight is a nice way to put it. "You can sit over there by the nurses, although, the craziest patients sit over there. Then there's the chess table-"

"Aren't you that mech? Whirl? That's what they call 'ya, that's right. The one with no emotions." Whirl stayed quiet as Bane went on. "Well, this is my seat. All the other seats are filled. I understand you're new here, and everything, but I'm gonna count to nine, and you better be off of my seat." The mech started to count as Whirl didn't move a muscle.

"-Eight, nine. Guess ya' choosed the hard way, eh?" Bane formed his servo into a fist as he readied himself to punch the lights out of Whirl. Putting down his energon cup, Whirl calmly said, "Guess they don't call me a ticking bomb for nothing." Coming down for the punch, Whirl grabbed the mechs servo and twisted it, earning a stifled cry from him. The guards got up as Whirl quickly grabbed a pocket knife. "Nobody move, or else he'll get cut!" Whirl grabbed the mech by his pedes, flipping him over to land on his back. "Next time, if you try that with me or anyone else, ME specifically, I'll make sure that you'll be offlined in a nano-click, got it?" Bane nodded his head fastly as he got up and ran somewhere else

"Oh, and uh, you can go ahead and take me to my room now, I'm feeling quite aggravated and bored. Oh yes, and give me that worthless medicine, even though it doesn't help to cure anyone." Whirl dropped his secret weapon and was led by two guards to his room. They gave him a shot and locked the door to his living space. Although there were no windows and no pictures in his all white room, he had felt in peace there. He was glad to be away from society and the public anyways, his kind annoyed him to bits, and there weren't many like him. His loneliness only comforted him.

"So, I told him, to get a life!" Rotorstorm laughed at his small joke as Guzzle sat across from him. His everlasting grumpy face staring out of the bar's window. Rotorstorm stopped laughing and focused on his friend, who looked completely grumpy. Mor grumpy then he usually was. "C'mon Guzzler, don't beat yourself down about what happened." Guzzle snorted and took a drink of his Novae. "Look, 'Storm. You're one of my good friends and all, but right now I don't think happiness is one of my emotions, and it's not gonna be one of my emotions for awhile." Rotorstorm still looked at him confusingly and Guzzle decided to paraphrase himself. "I-I'm not gonna be the same mech I was before. I mean, I just lost the one thing that gave me credits over some fragged up misunderstanding. Scrap, I did what most bots did outta instinct and the mother fragger fired me." Rotorstorm looked at his energon and spinned it with his straw as they both sat in silence.

"Guzzler, I think you're really beating yourself up over this. You act like you don't have so many other options. Look at me," Rotorstorm gestured to himself as Guzzle side-eyed him. "I lost about four jobs for being the perfect bot. My co-workers were simply jealous of me. It's almost like, who isn't jealous of a perfectionist?" Guzzle still frowned but couldn't help from smiling a bit at his friend's narcissistic personality. Good thing he had a faceplate to cover it. "So, what are you tryin' to say 'Storm?" Rotorstorm shrugged and looked out the window of the Polyhexian bar. "What I'm saying is, you need to stop beating yourself up over something that can easily be replaced. I mean with your build, you can work as-" Looking up and down at his friend who stared back at him dully, he continued, "You can be one of those security guards who works at those popular clubs. They make a good pay, all you gotta do is just throw bots who don't follow the rules out."

Guzzle shook him and sipped through his straw, which went through a little feeder hole in his mouth plate. "Did you forget I was short? No way that's gonna work out." Rotorstorm sighed and looked back. "Well, do you have enough money to stay in your complex." Guzzle hated to admit it, but after awhile he would need somewhere to stay, and he only had three options. With Rotorstorm, Brawn, or, in the shelter, with completely crazy homeless bots. He refused to stay in the dark areas of Kaon, even though living there was cheaper, but there was too many crimes happening there, and he didn't want to get murdered on his first day there.

"Yeah, I'm staying there temporarily. The landlord is probably gonna give me a few solar cycles until she kicks me out. I'm probably gonna have to stay with you or Brawn. If that doesn't work out, I'm going straight to the shelters." Rotorstorm gaped. "Uh-uh, I'll let you stay with me before you go to one of those shelters. I'm sure Brawn'll would do the same thing. Plus, you don't even have to stay with either of us, you could get a small complex in Kaon." Guzzle chuckled and rubbed the back of his servos. "Not gonna stay there either, too much crime and pollution there. If I go there, that'll be your last time seein' me old buddy." Taking a last swig of his drink, he clanked it down on the table and got up. "I'll probably see ya' tomorrow 'Storm, I gotta go and see somebody." And with that, left out the bar without letting his friend know where he was going.

Impactor walked out of suite and into Crystal City's bright and public outside. His dark orange and purple frame shined from the sunlight, and he started to walk to the dock area. The plan was to meet up with Swindle to talk about "important things" that consisted of energon shipment. Opening his comm-transmitter, he dialed the no good dealer, who answered at a perfect time. "If it isn't Impactor? Where are you? You're late." Impactor grunted and responded. "Look, when am I gonna get my pay? We've been shipping off energon to Caminus for awhile now and no one's paid us a half of a credit yet." A sly chuckle was heard through the other end as Swindle replied, "Do you know how illegal and dangerous this business is? Well, let me inform you on what you might not know." As Impactor walked through the crowd and peaceful streets, he listened sternly to Swindle's explanation of energon's black market. "Camiens, are pretty religious people, you know, they don't believe in bad, shouldn't think bad, do bad, say bad, you get my point. Most of our super energon goes there, because, who doesn't like the beverages to get you overcharged? They banned "the sinful drinks" there, but many bots like it, so there willing to pay huge amounts of credits to get it."

"Getting energon imported here on Cybertron isn't illegal, sending it out to the planets where there it is illegal, is illegal." Impactor, still not getting where he was coming from asked, "So? That doesn't explain our lack of pay." Swindle sighed impatiently and continued, "The people who we sell energon to in Caminus and Velocitron intend to wait for some time until they pay us. Especially with the council making stricter rules of importing, it's very hard for bots to do what we did back then when life was so much simpler. But, don't worry, you have a lot of credits already, I'm sure you'll get more after a few cyber-weeks, they know the deal, we don't sell these things for free." Impactor understood, but his frown didn't falter. "Yeah, alright, I got you. See you at the docks." Turning off his communication device, he walked more quickly. As he walked, he caught sight of a figure on the other side of the street that had been walking in the same direction he was when he left his home. Impactor suspiciously eyed him, making sure the figure didn't catch him doing it.

"Wonder what this fragger wants?" Impactor took another way to the docks and then ran to a nearby building to hide beside it. Looking around the corner to see where the mech was, he spotted him stopping at a street corner, obviously looking for him. "Guess I got some trouble." Impactor dashed to another street that was heading to the docks. The mech spotted him and started to chase him. Impactor jumped over carts, tables, and dodged people as he ran towards the docks. He spotted the docks and rushed to some crates that he hid behind. The mech stopped and looked around the dock area's entrance. _Might need to see what exactly he wants_. The mech was coming close to the crates as Impactor took out a knife and hopped out from his hiding spot, grabbing the mech by his neck. "Any reason why you're followin' me punk?" Impactor asked with his bellowing deep voice, keeping the shuffling mech in a headlock. "Me and your boss has some information to discuss." Impactor kept his headlock on him. "And what type of information is that? Answer right and I'll spare your life, boy."

"All this scrap with importing. I work for Swindle too. I think he's lyin' about our credits, I think he's givin' the energon to someone else. Now can you let me go!" Impactor twitched his optic and grinded his teeth after what he heard from the mech's mouth. Impactor dropped him as he gagged. "Oops, forgot my grips kinda tight." Impactor walked off leaving the mech to follow him. Swindle was waiting on the dock watching mechs load crates of energon on the ships. "Swindle!" He turned around to see a obviously furious Impactor walking sternly towards him, and a small mech following behind him. Swindle smirked. "Finally, you're here Impactor."

"Gonna explain what the frag is going on here?"

"What do you mean? I'm watching your fellow mechs do their job, unlike you."

"What's this glitch behind me talking about? About you selling energon to someone else?"

This made Swindle's optics widen a bit, but he closed his optics again and smiled. "You shouldn't listen to people who are obviously jealous of my profession just because I simply had to let them go." The mech who finally followed up to Impactor jabbed a digit at Swindle. "I live in Kaon you slagger! Recently, the gladiator pits have been stocked with energon, energon so powerful that it can create a bomb. You've been sending them to the pits to those gladiators. Not the drinkable ones either. You're givin them that scrap for free.." Impactor couldn't help but look at Swindle like he was a victim on his death list, but Swindle still looked as calm as ever.

"Impactor, do you really believe this fool? Do you really believe I would sell that type of energon to some poor people?" Impactor didn't know what to believe. Deep down, he felt as if Swindle was lying. He did do it a lot anyways, but he didn't want to lose his job, and made himself believe that it was just lies. Impactor turned around and faced the shaken up mech. "Go. Make it quick or you'll get hurt really badly." The small black and white mech got up and ran away. "Primus, what a fragging nut." Swindle put a servo on his worker's shoulder. "You got that right Impactor. Now, I'm gonna need you to load those crates unto the aircraft, and please be careful, they're delicate." Impactor nodded and watch Swindle walk away from the docks. Something in his spark told him to find where the black and white mech was and ask him some questions. Why would that mech make up, such a believable story like that. Plus, Swindle stayed in Kaon, which raised Impactor's curiosity more. But, work had to be done, so he picked up the crates and loaded them unto the ship.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Deceptions

"Just great, we're officially lost." Pyro and Ironfist found themselves lost and alone on the streets of Crystal City. Ironfist was having technical problems with his GPS device, and they weren't familiar with the area they were in. "I told you a long time ago that sometimes technology won't help." Ironfist said impatiently. "I think we should ask somebody in one of these little shops." Pyro exclaimed as Ironfist banged his servo on the GPS tracker on his arm earning his device to get more broken. "This is the worst day. I mean, this is worse than the time my best shotgun broke in half." Pyro sighed deeply at his friend's tantrum and looked over at an energon sweet shop, it's owner closing it up and leaving. "Excuse me! Excuse me ma'am!" The old femme turned around and asked, "Yes?"

"I'm sorry for stopping you, but my friend over there," He gestured to Ironfist who was having a mini meltdown, "-and I, are lost. You see, we live in Praxus, and this our first time in Crystal City. Do you happen to know where the Rover Inn is?" The femme put a digit on her chin and looked up momentarily. "I think it's right by the docks in the lower quadrant. We only have one docking area, so it's not hard to find."

"Oh, thank you, ma'am, have a good night." Pyro waved at her and stopped Ironfist in the middle of his tantrum. "'Fist! Calm down, the lady told me where we need to go. She said our inn was by the docks, so we should be able to find it around there." Ironfist shrugged and threw his GPS on the ground, "I knew that." Pyro chuckled as they both walked and started to head to the docks.

"You know, I really like it here. I think, besides the confusion of where we need to go, this trip was fun. We went to the Crystal City's galaxy famous science institute, we saw the organic zoo of different alien species and plants, and we saw none other then," Pyro paused as he realized where the pair was. "The archive, where Alpha Trion lives." Ironfist watched his friend stare at the humongous library that stood in front of them. "I think you're gonna do it someday." Pyro turned towards him and asked, "How do you know that?" Ironfist snorted at his friend's innocent curiosity. "I mean, you're smart, you're truthful, and you're not the violent type. You've been the most mature out of all the people I've met on Cybertron. I think old Trion'll like you a lot." Pyro, looking back at the archive smiled and asked happily, "You mean it?" Ironfist nodded, "I know so."

"Well, enough being emotional, let's get back to the inn." Ironfist walked off as Pyro rushed to follow him. "I mean, I've read almost every history book about Cybertron, including the ones about the Thirteen and the Fallen. Do you really think I'll be able to see Alpha Trion face to face?" Ironfist rolled his optics. "Pyro, I really think I've got your processor too excited to handle the truth. So can you please shut your trap, I'm way too sleepy for you to be askin' me lots of questions." Of course, Pyro shut his trap but kept a subtle smile on his face at the thought of the possibility of becoming a future Prime. He would make a pretty good Prime. No, a fantastic one. "We should be close by, I see some aircrafts leaving the port right now." As they neared the dock.

"This night sky is amazing. Look at all these stars." The both of them looked up at the black sky with a twinge of purple in it. The bright stars were shining brightly. The gleaming buildings of the big city didn't seem to falter even though it was the night time. The lights from all the homes, businesses, and amusement places made the whole city light up like it was a never-ending festival. Ironfist agreed with a nod of his helm. "Yeah, from that awesome gun shop and that sky, I wouldn't mind staying here either." When they went by the dock, Pyro spotted a few mechs loading blue, glowing crates unto small aircrafts. "Ironfist? What do you think their loading?"

"It might be some more technology." Pyro scratched his helm as the both stared at what the mysterious bots were doing. "Well, whatever it is Pyro, I don't think we should get into it." They both agreed on this and headed to the inn which was only down the street from the docks.

They arrived at their destination, sleepily unlocking their suite's doors and plummeting onto their berths. "'Fist?" Ironfist yawned and looked towards the other side of the room. "What's up?"

"You're an amazing best friend. I couldn't ask for someone better to share my friendship with." Ironfist grinned sleepily. "Me either bud. Good night." They turned off the lights and offlined their optics.

"I'm tired. I think I'll call it a night Swindle." Impactor began to walk off as Swindle caught his shoulder. "Thank you for your help again. I'm hoping that from, today's events, you won't think any different of me."

"'Course I don't." Yes, he did. "Good. That swine thought he was actually speaking truth with his idiotic lies. I should've never let him work for me." Impactor stayed quiet at this as Swindle looked up into the night sky. "You know, I don't like when I give people an easy A job and they take me for granted. I don't think you know how big this market is." Impactor looked down as his right optic started to twitch. It was a habit that he formed when he was a youngling. It meant that someone was annoying him, and overall, he knew Swindle was lying. One rule of Cybertron: Never trust a person from Kaon who says good things. "Hopefully, the Council will rethink their ways of setting up the unfair laws of the system. So many bots are going to jail for what we're doing right now. The smartest thing is to make high-grade energon legal. I mean, look at me, a bot from Kaon who got all these credits just by strategic and genius business strategies."

Swindle paused and laughed like he actually made a funny worthy joke. "Me, from Kaon, the poorest place on Cybertron. Well, I'll see you tomorrow in the evening. Have a good night, and don't get too drunk tonight." With a wave of his hand, while transforming and driving off, Swindle disappeared from the docks. Wonder where he goes after work? Impactor thought to himself. His instinct was to follow him, but he wasn't going to do that and end up getting kicked out for being too creepy. Taking out a cyber-cigarette, he put it in his mouth and started to smoke as he walked back to his complex. He whistled while walking on the metal walks, looking at old and young couples romancing under the moonlight, hearing nightclubs blasting music, and people laughing normally and drunkily whilst walking through the streets. He could get drunk and let his thoughts flush down the drain, but he told himself that it wasn't right right now. His drinking obsession had turned him into a heavy energon-holic, and it would be fitting for him to stop before he put his processor in a fritz.

He finally arrived at his complex, it's white metal and shining windows gave it an exquisite look. This illegal stuff he was doing, earned him the best of the best. Not many middle caste bots could afford where he was living, and all he did was pick up crates. An easy A job, as Swindle said. Sometimes, the luxurious life was good. While it had its perks, it also had its own downside. Sometimes, some bots needed to take a break away from that type of life. He decided to keep walking. Maybe a good stroll would clear his processor. The breeze on this particular night was soothing, Cybertronians always had the advantage of that type of weather.

Through his stroll, he thought about Swindle mentioning himself living in Kaon. Old Kaon. It definitely brought back memories for him. Kaon. He use to live there with his sire when he was a sparkling. His, mother, had passed away from a tragic incident, one that he refuses to acknowledge and think about. His sire took great care of him, even though they had little funds to support themselves. His sire was a miner. Even though it would've been a better pay for him to be a gladiator, it was smart enough of him not to do that because of his sparkling and the fact that he just didn't have those type of fighting skills. His sire passed away from a spark virus when he was only a youngling, and from there, Impactor stayed in an orphanage. Unlike the other younglings that wanted to be like there creators when they grew up, Impactor found himself doubting that idea completely. He wasn't going to become some stupid miner who lived off of minimum wage, nor was he going to stay in that treacherous city ever again.

From there, he started to live the hard life, focusing on the easy way out other than the hard way out. Everything he did was illegal. Thievery was one of those jobs. "Hey, Impact!" Impactor woke up from his daydreaming and looked up at his partner. "What's up?"

"Dreaming on the job again huh?"

"No, just thinkin'."

"You got no slaggin' time to think. Being a professional thief doesn't involve daydreamin', so get your helm outta the gutter, and help me hack this code." Impactor rolled his optics and sneered, "I don't do technology, remember genius?" His partner slammed his servo against the wall of the Praxus Bank. "Great! We get here at the perfect closing hour and we can't do anything with this vault's code. Where's that ticking bomb when you need him? He knows how to do this scrap." Impactor shifted his weight on the ground and put his helm on the wall. "Well, what did you expect? That the bank's vault would just be open, we could bust outta here and take as many credits as we want? Told you, we should just continue to rob people at gunpoint, and sneak into buildings and homes. This was too risky, just from getting in."

"Way to motivate our work." As his partner tried to fidget with the code lock, Impactor raised himself up to the sound of someone unlocking a door. "Hey! Shh! Someone's still up in here!" Impactor whisper-shouted to him. "Frag! I thought everybody left." Impactor kept himself as quiet as possible, making sure his breathing wasn't loud in the slightest. His partner took out a pistol, as Impactor looked at him with surprised optics. "What the hell do you think you're gonna do with that?" His partner loaded the gun and frowned. "What do you think? I'm gonna shoot the fragger who catches us in here. If you feel like goin' to jail tonight, go ahead by all means, but I'm sure in the hell not." Impactor, for one of the mere moments of his life, felt fear.

The clunking footsteps of the bot outside were heard coming closer. Impactor tried to find some type of escape route through a vent maybe, but there wasn't an option. "Why is this vault room door open?" They heard the mech say outside. Impactor's partner got ready to steady his gun. "Hey kid, as soon as we fire this shot, we're gonna make a move for it." Luckily, they both were covered in black so no security cameras would suspect who the murderer was. The room's door slowly opened as an old mech entered the room. "Hey! What's going on here!" One shot rang out as the old mech felt a blast go through his chassis. Impactor looked at his partner with frightened optics. "W-what did you do?"

"Hurry up! Let's get outta here!"

"B-but." Impactor, who was shaking so badly, went up to the mech and checked his vitals. The mech was already gone as his optics offlined. "We killed him. We killed him!" His partner angrily grabbed his arm. "Let's go! The cops will be here in no time!" They both ran out of the bank through the bank's exit door, transformed, and then sped off.

As they both arrived at a secret alley they transformed and hid in an abandoned building. "What the frag was that back there?" Impactor looked back at his partner who held an upset look on his faceplate. "I-I don't know, it's, for Primus's sake, we killed somebody dammit!" His partner marched to him and pushed him down to the ground, looming over him. "Look, you wanted to do this! What did you think? That all we're gonna do is go in sweet shops and steal energon candy! Pit no! Sometimes, you have to take drastic measures when dealing with things." Impactor shook his helm and buried it in his servos. "But, you murdered that poor mech, you killed him! We killed him! We-" His partner stopped him from saying more. "This is life. This is what we have to do to make a living. If you don't wanna do this, fine. Leave. But until then, we're gonna have to kill. It's a cold world." Impactor's optic twitched heavily, as he swallowed his partner's words.

From that day, Impactor remembered those same words. It's meaning following him for the rest of his life.

Swindle walked into the locker rooms of the gladiator pit with a pep in his step and his infamous smirk. He always did it when he was about to make a sale or a bargain. As he entered the room, he was given mean glares and unwanted stares. They all knew who he came here to see though. "Hey, my old buddy 'Wave!" Soundwave looked at him with his bright purple optics. "Work was smooth today, I'm guessing." The quiet mech turned around and got back to sharpening his sword. "Swindle. How nice it is to see you again." Megatron's heavy voice welcomed him. "Well, I came to see how my best customer was doing with his item." Megatron gestured for him to come in his pit quarters. "Come, we need to discuss important matters." They both walked into the room, Swindle shutting the door after him. He sat in a chair as Megatron sat on his berth sheathing his swords. "I thank you again, Megatron, for making Shockwave create explosive energon." Megatron chuckled and put up his servo. "No worries. He's one of the smartest mechs on Cybertron next to that Perceptor bot." Swindle looked around at the medals and gladiator weapons that were all over Megatron's room. As far as Swindle knew, Megatron was one of the most skilled and dangerous gladiators. He wasn't only known for his hulking frame that made mechs tremble, his cunning intelligence could persuade anyone to be on his side.

"What exactly are you using it for anyway? More weapons for your games?" Megatron stayed quiet, seeming to come up with something right to say. "Swindle, from the conversations that have been going through Cybertron, I am sure you know exactly what has been going on in our political system right now." Megatron stood by his biggest medal as Swindle raised an optic ridge before Megatron continued. "The council are a bunch of high caste fools who don't care about anyone but themselves. Nominus Prime is an egotistical glitch who is causing corruption and social apartheid on this planet. Recently, I have made it my job to talk to the Council of there unfair ways and the mistreatment of … our kind. I had formed an identical friendship with Orion Pax, an archivist who works for Alpha Trion. He too understood the vile ways of the Council. His readings about politics had made him well aware of the situation affected by our people. But, here is the situation," Megatron paused and grabbed a crate of the purple energon. "Orion is a conscientious objector, or in other simpler terms, a pacifist. When we met, I figured we were on par with each other, but obviously, that wasn't the case. He wanted to work with the Council to make Cybertron better. I, want to fight against them."

Swindle caught on but still had to ask one more question. "So, what do the bombs have to do with politics?" Megatron looked at him and chuckled bitterly. "Recently Pax and I had another meeting with the Council. When Prime made his statement about changing Cybertron, they sat and listen, giving him as much attention that he desired. I said, that we should have one ruler, I know exactly what needs to be corrected on this planet. But instead, they turned me down, made me feel like a fool, and laughed at my point. Everybody here knows, that I hate getting laughed at." Swindle could hear the darkening tone of the gladiator's voice and understood that this was no petty joke. "If the Council won't listen, we'll make them listen, we'll make them bow down to the lower caste." Swindle got up from his chair with a feeling of anxiousness. "Megatron? I don't know what to-you want to bomb Cybertron?"

Megatron nodded slowly. "I'm not going to just bomb Cybertron. I'm going to bomb the cities that the Council favors. I will make them fear. I, will make them wish that they never tried me. You of all people should know Swindle," His hulking frame walked over to the smaller dark yellow and brown mech, "You think that you're so mysterious and that us here in the gladiator pits don't know what you do? You sell illegal high-grade energon for a living because you can't particularly find a job for yourself. Do you know why you don't have any other available occupations? It's because of your fear of getting a background check, you know no one will hire you because you're from the slums of Kaon, you can't live in those good cities because you're highly possible to get caught by the wrong bot. I'm doing this, not only for you, but for the miners, the gladiators, the escorts, and the people who clean their homes and items every day. I promise, you will not regret me being your favorite customer."

Orion Pax put down his writing utensil and stared at the notes he took. "Already finished?" Orion Pax simpered and yawned. "Yes, I think I'm finished here." Orion got up and started to pack all his things and put the books that he read away. "Orion, may I have a word with you? If you don't mind?"

"Oh sure, go ahead."

"I want you to know that you're one of the most gifted and intelligent young bot I've ever met." This earned Orion a slight blush getting a compliment from the most influential Cybertronian. "Th-thanks, Trion. I, don't know what to say but thank you."

"Just from hearing your words, and looking at your actions, I can already feel that you'll become someone like me, or even greater in the future. I feel that you will eventually change Cybertron's problem."

"Y-you think so?"

"Yes. But, Orion, I'm afraid that I don't like the fact that you're working with that gladiator from Kaon."

Orion was confused at this. Megatronus, was a friend, and one that wanted change just like him. Why would Alpha Trion not like him? "I don't understand. Why don't you like that?"

"From hearing his speeches and what he wants to do for Cybertron, I think that you're friend wants to save Cybertron a different way. He is a gladiator, and all of them fight and kill for one thing: to win and to get their bet money. Overall, they fight violence with violence, and they've been raised to think the middle caste and the higher caste are the enemies.

"Please, Trion, forgive me, but I don't really understand where you're coming from."

"I think, that Megatronus will ruin Cybertron way much more than it already is." Orion thought about what he was explaining but spoke up for the gladiator anyway. "I, think this is a misunderstanding. Megatronus would never, would never destroy Cybertron. He loves his planet."

"Sometimes, when we love things too much, we will do anything for it, we will even kill and do unjust things, for it." Trion's reason hit him like a meteor in a collision. "Last night I had a revelation. A nightmare. Megatronus would start a war. It would be a war between the just, and the unjust. The deceivers, and the truth."

I'm already working on the fourth chapter! Hopefully, you guys start to enjoy this story because it's going to start getting really good!


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Devastation

There had been twenty total bombings on Cybertron. Ten in the higher quadrant of Praxus, one in Iacon, and nine in Altihex. News outlets after news outlets called it the most horrific thing since the Fallen tried to defeat the Thirteen. Police drones and stations everywhere guarded every city, some even closing off borders from traveling to be cautious. More shelters started opening to assist the bots who lost their homes to the destruction. Free energon, medicine, and berths were given to everybody who needed it. Many theorized it as revenge, that the lower caste was fighting back. Others theorized it as the beginning of a war.

The grand meeting hall in Central City was flooded with angry, devastated, and confused Cybertronians who wanted answers. The hall was amid with Cybertronian cursing, shouting, and questions that were unable to be answered. Nominus Prime banged down his staff to quiet the crowd. "Enough! Right now, the Council and I are trying our best resolve this issue. The Cybertronian Police Defense are scanning the areas that have been bombed and their evidence teams are looking for any clue as to who dropped these bombs. I assure you, this is simply an event that will be dealt with immediately." After he finished talking, the crowd started to shout again. That was not a good reassurance. Orion had got a seat at this meeting along with his best friend Dion and femme-friend Ariel, who both looked angrily at Nominus walking away from the room. "Can't you believe that no good mech," Orion looked at Dion. "He treats this as something so insignificant. Do you know how many bots got injured and died? So many lost their homes." Orion nodded as he looked towards Nominus. "I agree." He replied solemnly.

The three of them left out of the meeting hall earlier than the others that were inside. "But, who would just bomb Cybertron like this?" Ariel asked dolefully. Dion looked at Orion expecting the mech to speak up. Putting an arm around Ariel, he squeezed her shoulder tightly. "I feel that someone with a lot of hatred towards our race did this, or someone did this out of anger. It is very unfortunate that this happened in Praxus, Altihex, and Iacon, but we should be glad that they didn't target Crystal City." Dion looked down as Ariel buried her helm in Orion's neck. After a few moments of silence and thinking, Ariel again spoke up. "Do you both think that the lower caste planned this? It's a theory that has been going around about that." Dion agreed. "I most definitely think that's a valid reason." She looked at Orion for an answer as he replied, "It just might be."

Everybody at the psychiatric ward were put onto a heavily guarded shuttle that was traveling to Ankmor Park Psychiatric Institute. The bombs were too close to home by the hospital, so they decided to jam pack every patient into several rooms until everything in that area of Iacon was restored. This only infuriated Whirl, but he surely didn't show it, or act like it, or say it.

"Well, at least we'll make new friends." He joked dryly as one patient crazily laughed at him. The shuttle had gone full speed to Ankmor Park and he was able to catch a view out of the caged windows. Although he didn't miss the outside world so much, it still made him a little happy seeing it after many solar cycles of being locked away. He caught sight of the Central Space Port's station. It had reminded him of the Aerial Corps headquarters in Polyhex. That was back when he had a faceplate. It was yellow, and he had yellow optics, his helm was still navy blue. They called him Jetstream before he changed his name to Whirl. Oh yeah, Nominus, he worked under that fragger too, hard to believe, but yes, he did. He hated the Aerial corps. Even though he was created to work under its function, he defied the rules and decided to work as a watchmaker.

The Functionist Council in Polyhex didn't like this though. They believed that every Cybertronian should work at what was best for their alt mode. They hurriedly shut down his watch-making business leaving him poor and on the streets. His home had become Dead End, the slums of Polyhex. Unfortunately, when you're poor, you must fight for what's yours and protect yourself from those who want to steal what you rightfully earned. He got into numerous fights and hung out with the wrong crowds.

"C'mon motherfragger! Give your best hit!" Rotorbolt threatened towards Whirl. They both were circling around each other, servos up into fists staring at each other attentively. The Empties around them were shouting: "Hit him!", "Punch the fragger!", "Are you guys gonna fight already? You're wasting our time!" Rotorbolt smirked, "What's the matter? Scared?" Whirl was never scared. Punching the mech who had taunted him, he wiped his mouth as he spit out a glob of blue energon. "Oh. You're gonna get it!" Throwing multiple punches at him, Rotorbolt kept missing every dodge that Whirl was doing. Whirl kicked him down and tried to pounce on him as Rotorbolt kicked him off. They wrestled on the ground kicking and punching each other. Whirl finally nailed him to the ground throwing multiple punches at the nearly knocked out mech's faceplate. Unbeknownst to them, someone across the street were watching them closely, but they especially had their optics on Whirl. "Don't ever fragging threaten me without knowing the consequences." Everybody started to walk away from them both, heading back to their boxes and abandoned buildings.

He wiped energon off his optic and mouth while staring at the sleeping protoform in front of him. _I really need to stop wasting my time with these pathetic glitches, I just sleep and eat here, that's all._ He thought to himself. His helm perked up when he heard someone cough behind him. Getting up, he took out a pocket knife. "Look, I don't have any credits on me. So, I advise you go while you still have an optic." The blue, yellow, and white mech put his servos up in surrender. "Calm down, I'm not one of the Empties, I'm just here to talk." Whirl kept his guard up but lowered his knife. This mech knew damn well that he didn't belong here. His plating was too shiny, he had no scuff marks or scratch marks. He looked like he belonged in one of those rich cities. "You don't seem like the type to stay in this area, unless, you illegally sell energon."

"Oh, Primus no, that's too risky for me. Plus, I wouldn't let my job go for something like that." Whirl looked at him confusingly. Why had this mech specifically sparked a conversation with him? "I'm guessing you got lost, ended up in this dump, and now you need help getting home. Am I correct? Well Crystal City is pretty far away from here, so I advise you to take a shuttle." The strange mech laughed and shook his helm. "No, I'm not lost. I'm in the right place, in front of the right somebody." Red optics stared into yellow ones. "Right somebody, hm? Funny. I'm a nobody. A poor nobody who fights and earns about seven credits for singing silly songs in different cities in front of commuting crowds."

"You think you're a nobody now, but you could be a somebody if you take the offer I'm giving you."

"If you're talking about pimping me, count me out." This made the mech chuckle. "You know, I think I like you. What's your name?" Whirl most definitely didn't want to give out personal information. But he was a nobody. "People called me Jetstream, but I changed it to Whirl. Changed it because of my alt-mode. I'm a helicopter." The mech nodded. "You most definitely have the potential to be a somebody. You also have pretty good fighting skills. To be honest, I was spying on you fighting that mech over there. You would make a good Rodion Police Force member." Whirl looked up quickly. A job? "Where exactly is this going uh?"

"They call me Atlas. Dai Atlas."

"Where exactly is this going Dai Atlas?"

"I am part of the Senate. Basically, we create the laws-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You guys make the rules, the police enforce them. Look, I passed primary school, I'm not that stupid."

"Yes, correct. The Rodion police seems to lack someone of your capability. You seem to be so much more than the bots here, and you possess something that you could easily get a good position with."

"So, you're saying you want me to work with the law? The same law that I have a record with?"

Dai Atlas stayed quiet, so Whirl could explain himself. "Look, ever since I've been here I've gotten into nothing but fights. When the cops see this, they arrest everyone in the vicinity. I've been handcuffed quite a few times, and I'm sure that they won't accept a delinquent like me." Dai Atlas made an amused sound. "I understand where you're coming from completely. If you don't mind me asking too personal questions. But bringing up the issue of a record, what were you before you became poor? Every poor bot has a backstory." Whirl really didn't want to answer that question. But if this mech was his one chance to get off the streets, at this point he was willing to tell him almost anything. "I was a watchmaker. I worked for the Aerial Corps, but I didn't enjoy it. Just wasn't my passion or my drive. I hope you know that Polyhex has a law where your occupation is based off your alt-mode." They both walked across a bridge as they strolled in the dangerous neighborhood. "The Functionalist group here made that stupid aft law. I didn't follow the rules though, I hated what I did. Even though I don't seem like the type, I made watches and clocks for a living and sold them at a fair price. The Functionalists, of course, didn't like this at the slightest bit. They shut down my store and left me broke and lost."

"I'm sorry that happened."

"No worries. So yes. That's my story."

"Well, tonight is your lucky night. Here you go. I hope that my offer sits right with you."

Dai Atlas handed him a card with his information. "If you don't wanna do this, then I understand. But I really think you should. I better hurry up and get out of here before I'm robbed at gunpoint. See 'ya." As he walked off, Whirl saw a silver sword that was at his side. _I'm sure he won't have much trouble protecting himself._ With that, he walked back to the place which he temporarily called home.

"We're here!" The shuttle stopped at the station as everyone on the commute shook back and forth as the shuttle slowed down it's speed on bumpy magnetic fields. "Do 'ya really think we'll make friends here Whirl?" The nutty patient from earlier asked. Whirl looked at him and then looked out the window outside. "Sure we will."

It took her a few minutes to concentrate in front of the mirror of the tank room as she practiced her lines. "Hello, fellow Cybertronians. My name is-" She stopped and sighed heavily. "Nope, too bubbly." She cleared her vocaliser and repeated herself again in a sterner tone. "Fellow Cybertronians! I am here to make a stand against the socially negative ways of Cybertron! Oh, forget it." She sat down on the floor and buried her helm in her arms and chassis. "No one's gonna listen to me. I'm too nice." Her comm started to blink as she answered it. "What's up FS?"

"What's up? You're up! Nobody is speaking yet! It's the perfect time for you to do your speech!"

"I don't think I wanna do this anymore."

"Why's that?"

"No one's gonna listen to an unimportant femme like me. They want to hear somebody who'll speak their mind and voice their anger. They don't want some peacemonger who's just gonna fight fire with turbo-rabbits."

"Stop doubting yourself so much. How do you know the Council and the people won't like to hear what you say? You make everyone feel good whenever you speak your mind. Just have confidence." The light green femme stayed mute. "Fine. I'll do this. If I get boo'd, it's all your fault." Her friend laughed and said, "Sure, I'll buy you as much sweets as you want to make it up to you. See you when you get here." And with that she turned off the comm.

Taking a deep breath, she walked out of the room and down to the hall where the Council meeting was held. Of course, just from outside, she could hear people shouting, and this made her spark drop down to her pedes. "Sure doesn't seem like a healthy crowd." She muttered to herself. Her armor was polished and scrubbed to perfection. She had made sure she looked luminous today. FS told her that people loved looking at an attractive individual. For a second, she stood outside of the meeting's doors, putting her helm against it and listening to the crowd. "Okay. Imagine that all those bots out there are, cyber-rabbits, yeah, cyber-rabbits are cute. Be comfortable in your own plating." She opened the door to the room where she was met with cursing, shouting, and reckless behavior of angry mechs and femmes. Obviously from Nominus's unwanted presence. "Where are you FS?" She tried to find her friend who was somewhere in the crowd. "FS! Firestar!" About to give up and just head home, Firestar caught her arm and pulled her into the seat next to her. "Are you ready to go up there and talk?"

"No. Just looking at everybody here wants to make me go home."

"Well, no backing out now. Here comes the royal highness himself."

They both spotted Nominus Prime who sat at the large table along with the other Council members. They all seemed to be talking, not at the crowd, but between themselves. This crowd was probably going to be here all night without getting an answer. One Council member stood up to speak to the crowd. "Attention fellow Cybertronians, I am Perceptor, a fellow Council member and head of the Ministry of Sciences. The Council and I have gotten information about what type of bombs have been made to cause destruction to the Cybertronian cities." Taking out a small evidence bag, he showed the crowd what type of substance was used in the making of the bombs. The crowd gasped and finally settled down, but angry mutterings were still heard. "It is energon, but not the energon that we use in our everyday lives. This, has been reformatted and given different chemical properties. Someone has obviously invented this for the specific reason of bombing the cities. So far, we have no leads to who has done this, but with the help of the Cybertronian Police Defense Team, the culprits or the culprits will be found immediately. Thank you." As he sat back down the crowd had completely hushed, now sitting and waiting for anything else that they needed to hear.

Nominus Prime stood up and replied, "Thank you, Perceptor. I am sure that there are many of you who are afraid and devastated of becoming the next target. Your fear is most definitely understood. Would anyone else like to give feedback or ask questions?" The crowd stayed quiet, and Firestar quickly bumped her friend. "Please, for me, do it." She looked at her with pleading optics as the femme stood up and raised her servo. "Yes. I have something to say." Everybody looked towards her, and she almost sat back down. Her protoform was shivering with shyness, but she took her advice from earlier. To feel comfortable in her own plating. She cleared her vocaliser and started to talk. "Hello, my name is Moonracer. Moonracer of Cybertropolis. I, am here to voice, what every bot is thinking right now. We, the people, are tired of the unfair ways of Cybertron. From many rumors that I've heard, one stood out to me. The lower caste is simply fighting back. For one, I think that this is very true, and that this is a threat to our existence. I originally lived on Velocitron, you all may know it as the fastest planet in the galaxy. The Velocitronians loved Cybertron and believed that this was the planet of Primus. For a long time, this planet has stood for perseverance, wisdom, and kindness, which is why I moved here. But now, it seems as if all of that has went down the drain. I personally think, that these bombings are a signal that you all, the Council, must change your ways. I cannot stand to see a planet as special as this disappear into chaos." The crowd, who she thought would boo her, had agreed with her statement completely.

Nominus looked surprised but stayed professional. "I thank you, fellow citizen, for voicing this. Times, are simply difficult right now, and favoring the lower caste will not help much. I am afraid that, regardless of how you are treated, you should not take your anger out on individuals who have done nothing to you. Until then, all of you should leave this to the leading rulers of Cybertron. We have gotten through many things as a planet together. We will get through this." The meeting was now officially over, and all the Council members got up and walked away. The crowd started to leave too as a proud Firestar hugged her friend. "I am so proud of you 'Racer! You brought some coolant to my optics." Moonracer laughed and hugged her friend back. "Yeah, I was so scared that I felt like emptying my tanks. I hope that my opinion may help to make the Council think more of others than themselves."

"Well, I say, you did a good job. C'mon, let's go and get something to celebrate."

Almost everyone in Crystal City were panicked and outraged the bombings. The ongoing conversations in the streets were enough to drive Impactor to madness. From the bombings, and the rumors, Impactor stayed in his suite and dared not come out. That mech who he thought was completely insane, was right all along. His plan was to move from Cybertron before the police sniffed him out. There was Caminus. No, too religious. There was Velocitron, it was fast paced, but he could get use to that lifestyle. Or, he could simply stay on Cybertron moving from city-to-city, keeping himself unknown and private.

That fragger Swindle wasn't answering any of his calls. He lived his life and easy A job a lie, just from believing a con-mech, which Swindle was. Though there was a high possibility that Impactor could get arrested from helping the suspects, he held no fear. He had simply given up on … life. His work, his actions, had resulted in people getting killed and injured, their homes being destroyed by him being naive. Money is not worth an individual's life. That's what he learned long ago. He started to pack things that he would need to travel away from Crystal City. Energon, a couple of guns, his holo-clock, and some medicine was enough to keep him on his feet until he found somewhere else to hide. While packing, he thought of the black and white bot that had warned everybody at the docks of Swindle's intentional plans. He couldn't believe that he trusted someone so sneaky and especially from his hometown.

Grabbing all of his things, he had gone out of his suite, but had to handle some business before he left. Heading into the landlord's office, he saw him putting some cleaning utensils away. The landlord turned around to say hi as Impactor induced him with a drug that would offline him temporarily. Fortunately, when he woke up, he would forget completely what happened, or who put him out. Impactor searched the room for data pads that showed when he moved here, and who he was. Taking the data pads, he crushed them and threw them out. This would probably stop or deter the law from getting any information, and with that, he walked out to catch the shuttle to Cybertropolis.

"-and Whirl. I think we have all of you guys. You all will be set in different rooms, so try to get along with your roommates." What are they? Crazy? _They're going to actually sit me in a room with people and think I'm not going to hurt at least one of them. Idiots._ Whirl thought. Ankmor Park's facility was a lot nicer, he could at least admit that. "So doc? What room am I gonna be in today?" Whirl asked the gold and white mech. The mech secured his glasses while looking around and chuckling nervously. "Oh, I work here in Ankmor facility. I'm not exactly sure where your facilities doctors are going to sit you-"

"You think I'm asking you to show me the way into those overcrowded and stuffed pit holes. No. If you have an abandoned room in your basement, you can sit me there, or keep me in the waiting rooms. I don't bite."

"I-I just can't do that, that's breaking the facility rules."

"Who are you?"

"That's, really irrelevant."

"You can be my first friend here."

"Oh, well, Rung."

"Rung, let's not make this harder than it has to be. I'm not like these ballistic fools here, I'm calm, and I barely want trouble." Rung doubted this completely, but he was just an intern student here. "Well, uh, you can stay in the tv area for a while, but I'm going to have to sit you in a room later."

Whirl closed his optic in a calm manner. "I think I'll like you a lot Rung." He sat down in one of the tv area's chairs as he looked at the screen. There was one more he liked about this place: it had on a different station besides the soap opera. It was on the news station, politics (ugh), and of course it was on Nominus. Whirl still couldn't believe he worked under that stupid aft joke. "Whirl?" The mech turned to his name as the head doctor gestured him over. Whirl walked to him and sat on a chair at his desk in his office. "Here I am! What's the news? I'm in charge of story time, aren't I? Did I do something wrong again?" The doctor, who usually laughs at his talks, only frowned and gave an unfortunate look. "Whirl, I am afraid I have very unfortunate news." Whirl could only stare at him with his one optic. "We, the facility, have seemed to make a mistake. You, aren't mentally sick. Nothing was ever wrong with you." Whirl didn't say anything. He wasn't mad or sad. He was confused. "What I'm trying to say is, Whirl, that you don't belong in a place like this. You were intentionally supposed to go to Garrus-1 on Lunar 2, for the lost and criminally insane. I'm sorry that we must transfer you there, we wish you can just stay with us, but if we don't then they will come get you by force. That's not what we want to happen. They recently sent me a letter about it, and you are supposed to be transferred tomorrow night. I apologize for this mistake."

After this, Whirl didn't say anything and instead got up to sit back in the tv room. He thought the mental facility was the worst place on Cybertron, but Garrus-1 was the most dangerous prison in the galaxy.

Impactor walked to Crystal City's shuttle station; quickly sped walked. The shuttle was about to leave, and he couldn't leave his one of getting out the city. He spotted the station, which wasn't far away. "Cybertropolis shuttle leaving in three cycles." Said the station's intercom. "Dammit." Impactor huffed as he ran to the ticket booth. Skipping over a few people in the lines, he tried to give the clerk his ticket. "Here. Hurry up take it." The femme gave him an irritated eye roll and gave him back his punched ticket. He rushed down the steps to the tunnel from which it was traveling and waited for it impatiently, his pede tapping on the ground quickly. _I'll just, meet with my old theft friend there, no, I'll just work in construction, I'll be good in that field anyway._ His processor was in different places then once.

The shuttle finally pulled up and opened its doors to its passengers. He quickly rushed in and sat on a seat, praying to Primus that he didn't caught as quickly. The doors to the shuttle closed as it sped of towards Cybertropolis. While catching the little breath he had, his helm went back into the window finally resting. The trip was going to take a good mega-cycle, so he had enough time to offline.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Imprisonment

Pyro and Ironfist couldn't go to Praxus because of the bombing, so overall, they were stuck in Crystal City until further notice. "This is preposterous! There is no way that all of Praxus could be bombed at the same time! They might as well just let all the Praxians into the city. That is ridiculously idiotic!" Pyro was fuming in their motel room as Ironfist stared at him from his berth like some boring reality show. "Pyro, calm down. I'm sure it's not gonna be a long time for them to let us back in." Pyro gaped at his friend because of his carelessness about the situation. "Ironfist! My home is in Praxus! Our homes are in Praxus! This doesn't aggravate you one bit that all of our belongings are there? My books, holo-vids, award from the speech I gave at the Grand Oratory…" Pyro rambled on as Ironfist bluntly ignored him. Sometimes, his friend was such a nervous wreck. Pyro stopped and finally calmed down taking slow strides around their room. "Calm down. What would Trion do? What would Primus do?"

Ironfist decided to start a conversation as his friend was having a mental breakdown. "So, who do you think did it?" Pyro turned around and asked suddenly, "Who do I think bombed our precious home and those other cities?" Ironfist nodded. "Well, if you want me to give my honest and personal opinion, I wouldn't be surprised if it were "those" bots."

"What do you mean "those bots"?"

"You know, those gladiators, the lower caste. They have been mistreated for a long time. This could simply be their way of getting a little attention."

"I agree. Wonder why Nominus hasn't had the cod-parts to do anything about it."

"Nominus cares about himself and the others that are like him." Ironfist shrugged, "How much do you wanna bet he's gonna be assassinated?"

"Ironfist! Never wish death on someone like that!'

"I'm not wishin' death on nobody! I'm just sayin."

"You're probably right then, my friend."

Orion transformed himself as he entered into the gladiator arena. Like always, he was met with mean, untrustive, and suspicious optics. Of course this time, everyone looked his way like that. Megatronus was practicing sword practice with his friend Soundwave, who, even though he was uncomfortably quiet, grunted in pain when he was cut. Megatron sneered and dropped his weapon helping Soundwave up. "Next time, practice your dodges. It'll be very important when your life is on the line." Megatronus turned around to Orion walking towards him. "Orion! Hello, nice to see you on this bright … and lovely day."

"What did you do?" Asked Orion bitterly. Megatron looked at him with bewilderment, but only chuckled when he looked down. "What do you mean Orion?"

"There's been lots of rumors. A lot of them Megatronus." The hulking, gray mech didn't back down from the archivist's stare. "And why would you think, I would do something as chaotic as that? Did you really think I would cause destruction to my planet like this? Orion, you know that me out of all people would never do that."

"People are saying that the lower caste are fighting back. I understand that it is just a rumor and that rumors shouldn't be believed, but ever since the Council has favored me you've been avoiding me at all costs. I don't understand. We agreed on how Cybertron is supposed to change, but I don't want to fight with violence."

"And if you choose not to fight with violence, then that is perfectly fine." Megatronus turned his back towards him and held up his servo. "Please, leave us Orion. I have to train."

Orion could only look at his old friend with unbelievable optics and a slight frown. "If you wish me for to leave, so be it." And with that, transformed and drove off. Megatronus looked at him go away and Starscream came up behind him. "Too much of a do-gooder. Pathetic if you ask me." Megatronus only looked straightforward as he replied, "Yes. Pathetic indeed."

The shuttle had arrived to Cybertropolis around the evening time and Impactor was still offline. He had been dreaming of lots of things. He had never dreamt so much for a while, probably since today was pretty hectic. "We have arrived. Pack your things and get ready to exit from the shuttle." The intercom announced. Everyone started to unload their things from the upper compartment and stood by the exit doors.

The shuttle finally came to a halt as everyone walked out. Impactor was still stuck in the dream world.

"The mech is crazy. He wants us to work double shifts." A young Impactor walked through the mines with his mining partner. "I think he wants us to get work done quicker today. If you ask me, we should take it. A little bit more pay." His friend replied. Impactor felt his whole protoform heat up from the boiling temperature of the mine. "So, how's your old man doin'?" Impactor didn't know what to say about his sire. His sire was stressed, depressed, angry, but slightly content with life and the little outcomes he lived from it. "He, uh, he's good. Tired, but good."

"I can't really say much about my sire, or my mother, bless their sparks. I guess, they're living life well in the Allspark." This guy was Impactor's only friend here. They could relate to each other a lot. "I'm sorry, I didn't know your creators are dead."

"Yeah, both of them got robbed by some silly gang. One of the members had my mom at gunpoint, my sire intervened, he got shot, including my mother. Fortunately, before my sire passed, he had taught me a few life skills. One being social, another being fighting. He was a gladiator, worked in the pits to give the senators a show. He taught me how to fight early because he knew it would come in handy, and it has. I work in the pits now." Impactor, optics widened with shock, said, "You-you work in the pits now? Primus, you must be good. Why 'ya still here then?"

"To get a little bit more credits. I don't mind still being here though. The people in the pits can be obnoxious sometimes. I've just started working there, so they probably aren't used to me yet. But I'll make them believe that I am worth something."

"Sir? Sir!" Impactor woke up startled and responded, "I'm up. What's the big deal?"

"I'm afraid that you have to get off the train, we just stopped." Impactor looked around as he noticed that everybody had got off. "Thanks." Grabbing his stuff, he exited the shuttle and went to the station where people were waiting for to get on their next shuttle ride, hugging others that they hadn't seen in a while, and paying for their tickets. Impactor knew someone here who could help him get that construction job and a home for now, so he would stay in a hotel and find that mech from there.

He walked out the station's entrance to be greeted with tall city buildings, people driving through the streets and flying in the air, laughing, talking, kissing. Like Crystal City, but not as good as Crystal City. Impactor walked down the street to the welcome center where he was greeted by a femme who looked as if she hated her job. "Hello, welcome to Cybertropolis. How may I help you today?"

"Yeah um, what are some good hotels 'round here?"

"Well, there's the Grand Hotel for the bots with a handful of credits, then there's the Nightly Inn, cheap but better than the average motel, and we have more in the lower and higher quadrant, but if you want to stay in this area then I say the Nightly Inn. But if you're rich…?"

"I'll just take the Nightly Inn. Where's it at?" She gave him the directions and he walked to where it took him. Ranked by everyone in Cybertron, Cybertropolis was one of the best spots for nightlife: clubs, parties, festivals. Impactor wasn't interested, especially since he was probably on the run.

He had made it to the Inn where he paid for his room. Logging on to his comm he dialed who would help him get the job: Long Haul.

Garrus-1 wasn't that bad, well, it was bad, but it wasn't how Whirl expected it to be. Garrus-1 was, in better improvement. New guards, cleaner facilities, books for the bots who enjoyed reading, and a holo-vid room, which showed people preaching about the good of Primus. The Council thought that it would do good for the criminally insane. Of course, there were still plenty of fights and brawls, a killing here and another death there. This reminded him of Dead End so much.

"So, here's the rules newcomer." The guard walked Whirl to his new cell and … home? If that's a depressing way to put it. "We have a new behavioral system here called the "goodie-two-shoes diameter"," He took out a plastic chart with a smiley face on top that went all the way down to an extremely angry face, "People who have earned two smiley faces get to have story time-"

"What is this? Protoform school?"

"Don't interrupt me boy. Anyways, if you get five smiley faces, you can go in the holo-vid room. They don't play all the good movies and shows so overall it's your choice if you wanna go. If you get ten smiley faces, you don't have to do any work for two days."

"Sounds … exciting."

"If you're still in the angry faces, then obviously you need to rethink about what you're doing here. If you get into one fight, it'll make you get your smiley faces taken away. Got it?"

"Yeah, sure, got it."

As they both walked through cells, Whirl could only look at the mechs who awaited for "new meat". It was a known fact that the prisoners on Garrus-1 were not nice. At all. Especially to new prisoners. They despised them. "Fortunately we're gonna sit you in a cell by yourself. Your last cell mate, uh, left."

"I would like to get bonded out like he did right about now."

"No. He didn't get bonded out. The mech passed from a spark attack." Whirl could only stare at the guard momentarily and look forward towards his doom. "By the way. Lunch is gonna be soon so get ready to meet some new friends." The guard closed Whirl into his cell and started to whistle as he walked off. This cell, felt just like his room in the nuthouse. It was dark, cold, quiet, and he liked it. He laid back on his small berth while the oil marks on it squelched beneath him. "This won't be bad. Won't be bad at all. This is just like … Dead End. My old home. I'll know how to survive here without getting into too much trouble."

"H-Hey! Hey! Newcomer!" Whirl sat up as he looked to the cell across from him. An old mech was trying to get Whirl's attention. "What do you want?"

"How are you feelin' in that cell a' yours so far?" Whirl looked around and squinted at the mech. "Obviously the same as the guy who died from a spark attack just from living here." The mech chuckled and shuffled back into his small berth. "You'll get used to it son. I had to get used to it for 60 solar cycles." He told him in a weak voice. "60 solar cycles! I'm surprised you're not dead yet old mech."

"When you're smart inna place like this, surviving might be one of yer' top priorities." Whirl flinched at this while looking away from the mech's cell. _Surviving_. This was nothing new for him.

Guzzle tapped his pede with his servos on his hips waiting at the bar. He checked his chronometer consistently as the time passed by fastly. He had been waiting here for a while, but he had hoped the fragger kept his promise. Swirling the straw in his cup of engex, it took him a minute to notice the bartender in front of him. "You've been here for a while now Guzzle. You okay?" The impatient mech smiled and gave a fake smile. "Yeah. I'm all good Tap. Just fill 'er up." The bartender took the glass of yellow engex and went to refill it.

 _Where the frag is he? The scrap heap said he was gonna be here an hour ago_. Guzzle looked around one more time for any mech that looked purple and green with a red visor. He was obviously big; from the way he sounded on the comm. _Hope he didn't step on anyone while tryin' to get here_. He joked in his thoughts.

The entrance bell rang and Guzzle looked back at the intimidably big bot before him. "Humongous indeed." The mech was looking for him and Guzzle took another swig of his drink before getting up and going up to him. The huge mech sat at a table by the corner and waited for his caller. "Long Haul? That's the name, right?" Long Haul looked up at him and smirked. "Yeah. Guzzle right?" Guzzle sat down across from him and smiled, "The one and, uh, maybe only."

"So, you called about the construction job in Cybertropolis, eh?"

"Oh yeah. Praxus construction kicked me out cause' of a fight."

"Anger issues huh? Still no reason fer' them to kick ya' out."

"Yeah. So, what's the deal?"

"The deal? That's why I'm here Guzzle." Long Haul smirked and chuckled. "I want to know what ya' can do." Guzzle pondered. The only thing he did in his last construction job was nail in hammers and sweep off excess dust. "Give me … the job that you think suits me."

Long Haul grunted while he looked him up and down and thought about it. The waitress brought them over two drinks and the green mech drinked it. Breathing out after he finished, he answered him calmly. "I think, you should be a dump truck. Even though your alt-mode there seems to be a pick-up. We could use a extra handy mech." Guzzle wished that he could have suggested something, better, but it would do. "Sure. Just as long as I gotta job." Long Haul nodded and chuckled. "Yeah. I hope you like it because I'm guessin' I'm your only opportunity. I should get goin'. Someone else wants to know about the construction job. I'll be expectin' you in Cybertropolis two days from now." He got up and Guzzle stopped him. "Thanks a lot for this 'Haul. I-I really needed this." With a nod and a small smile he replied, "No worries. Imma pretty nice guy when I want'a be." Then, he left. Guzzle would have to tell Rotorstorm and Brawn about his new job and unfortunately bring the news he was leaving. But they would understand, they were his friends, they wanted the best for him. The waitress came back and asked him if he wanted a refill. "Yeah honey, and make sure you mix it heavily with some high-grade. I'm gonna celebrate."

"Gosh I'm so proud of you Moonie." The two femmes sat outside the cafe as they ate some energon goodies and watching people and vehicles go by. "Thanks a lot 'Star. Without you, I don't think I would have the bolts to talk in front of all those people."

"I don't think it was 'cause of me. I think, you spoke from your spark and voiced what it wanted you to say all along. At this point, you should be part of the Council." Moonracer snorted at this. "Me? A Council member? No way uh-uh. I'd be trying to start arguments with Nominus over and over again."

"Think of the opportunities Moon. You'll be able to talk to them. Make them understand that they need to change their ways. I understand Nominus is one big aft-hole, but I don't think he should stop you from doing what's right. Just because he bears the Matrix, doesn't mean he deserves to have authority over our planet. The Matrix would be better off in your hands." The thought of holding the most important and precious element in the Universe made Moonracer uncomfortably wriggle in her seat.

"I appreciate the compliment, but you don't understand. The Matrix should only be given to someone with confidence, intelligence, leadership, and a fighter. I don't know how to fight. Nor do I have much confidence. If you think about it, I could see a good reason why Nominus was picked in the first place. After Nova Prime disappeared, everyone needed someone to look up to. Nominus was just that, although, they had other options, but Nominus spoke up on it. I'm sure it won't be long before a new prime takes his place. A prime who wants Cybertron to be better." Firestar agreed and grabbed her friend's servo, "I whole-sparkly agree." They both sat there and looked up at the night sky that shines with bright stars of blue and white. "Moon, I, uh, know what happened between you and him."

Moonracer turned to look at her, hoping that she wouldn't say his name. "He cheated on you again. Didn't he?" Moonracer could only look back at the sky and close her optics. Since a sparkling, she was told not to cry over mechs who did something wrong to her, broke her spark, but he was different. They had much in common. "No, 'Star. No. Powerglide and I, we're perfectly fine." If they weren't snuggling up close to each other and watching holo-vids or going to an open spot and watching the stars above them, they were pranking each other, doing stupid stuff that got them annoyed, curious and dirty looks. "Moonie. You're my best friend. Don't think that I don't know what he's been doing. I know that Powerglide has been one of the best things that's happened to you, but I can't see you keep getting spark broken by that fragger so many times. I think you should let him go." Her light green face-plate couldn't stop from hardening her looks. "We're okay. Okay. I told him that if he messes up again I'll let him go."

"You said that last time. And the time before that. And the other time before that."

"I promise I'll do it this time. Let's not talk about it anymore. I can solve my own problems." Firestar did as she said and continued eating some more energon as Moonracer copied. She knew in her spark that Powerglide would cheat again, but maybe, just maybe, if she started figuring out why he was doing it so much, she could do what those other femmes were doing so she could make him stay. That would work, right?

Impactor was told through his comm that Long Haul was out handling some important business matters. He became impatient, after all, he had took a whole shuttle to Cybertropolis and expected to handle his matters quickly. "He told me that he'll be there once I made it here. Can ya' tell him to at least hurry from where he's comin' from?" The impatient voice from the other line tried to answer back without cursing him out. "I just can't rush the boss! He's all the way in Polyhex, it's gonna take him awhile to come back. We'll call you back once he gets here." His authentic accent made Impactor want to choke him through the other line so he could never speak again.

"Tell 'yer "boss" that Impactor gave him a call. If I don't have a job two days from now, I'm comin' to give just **you** a visit." The mech gave a scared yet professional reply, "Okay, I'll, uh, l-let him know." Then he hanged up the other line. Impactor grumbled and paced around his room, which he always did when he was waiting. "Fragger doesn't know how to keep a schedule."

He hated the fact that he traveled just to wait in some stupid motel. "I need a drink." He then walked out of his room to head to the bar down the street. Although he hated the fact that he would be slapped tipsy by the time he got to see Long Haul, he thanked Primus that he knew how to control his high-grade. The only trouble with it was that he said things he didn't really mean. He walked out the motel and decided to see what options he had. His optic had caught a pub and he decided to go. As he walked, he caught sight of a two white patrol drones over by the motel he was staying at, and another one over by a small shop. They were just sitting there, seeming to wait for someone rather then something.

As he entered the pub a small bell rang, signaling that a new customer had wanted service. Even though he was in a small building in the middle of a wide city, he still kept his guard up making sure he didn't see any suspicious authorities. He tapped the table with a rhythm of his digits as he waited for the waitress to give him what he wanted.

As he waited, something, heh, someone caught his attention. A black femme sitting at the bar drinking down some engex. Her black and gold helm, for some reason, made her look beautifully dangerous. To be exact, Impactor wasn't old, but he was getting there. Saying he was "past his days" would be a joke on his part, but a mech was a mech. His age didn't stop him from side oggling her beautiful frame. The waitress brought him his drink and he gulped it, taking a break as he breathed in his intakes and wiped at his mouth. He looked up at the femme again who looked back at him with cunning purple optics. She winked softly.

Impactor smirked back at her and she walked to where he was sitting. "Am I interrupting you? Just looking for a friend." He took another drink and gestured to the seat across from him. "Looks like I'm lookin' for the same thing." She smiled and sat on the chair as the waitress brought her some more engex. "What do they call you? Crusher? You look like that could be your name."

"Impactor. Crusher's too boring anyway. What they call you?"

"Airia. My friends call me Air."

"Any reason they do?"

"Well I can fly for one, but it's just a simple nickname."

"It's pretty if your askin' me."

The femme smirked at him and drank some more giving Impactor a whole show of her chassis. It would be nice to get some action before he had to meet his employer. Looking out of the pub's window, he spotted more police drones, and they all seemed to be looking at the building, but Impactor didn't want to bring any attention. He decided to start up the conversation before the femme started to get suspicious. "So, I'm guessin' you're a regular here?"

"When things get stressful, yes. I'm a part-time scientist and my work is needed urgently most of the time. It does get stressful."

"What kinda scientist are 'ya?" He looked at her and through the window at the same time as police drones stayed in the same spot. "An organic biologist. With more discoveries of organic things and places, it could be much more of a help to Cybertron."

Impactor's servos started to sweat as he noticed more police drones were surrounding the area. _Damn right, they're lookin' for me_. Authority had a way of traveling fast on Cybertron. "That's interestin'. Very." He kept his sight out of the window as more police drones kept moving in. The owner of the pub noticed. "Hey! Why all those police drones out there!" A red laser pointed at Impactor's helm and he hurried to pull the femme under the table with him. The drones shot through the window as screams and shouts were heard. The femme, taken by surprise, screamed. "What the frag is going on!" Bullets pierced through the windows as glass fragments flew everywhere. "If you wanna live femme then I advise you to stay under this table! Good knowin' ya', I'll probably meet you on the way around!" He then left the femme to stay panicked and confused as she hid for cover and stared after him as he ran out the pub's back door.

He banged through it and arrived in the alley, checking to make sure no police drones followed him. "Halt, citizen! You are under arrest on behalf of Cybertronian Law!" This was one of those times that Impactor could use the excuse that he was too old to be running, but he was too young to complain. He ran down to the other exit side of the alley, where he was met with traffic and people. Unfortunately, he had to "stop" a few cars and and push people out the way. "Hey! Watch it scraphead!" One mech shouted at him. Impactor had no time to curse the fragger out as he ran forward up the street. More police drones were following after him as he ran into a nearby shopping center.

He ran in through the entrance and looked up to the ceiling of it. Crazily enough, he thought of taking the elevator all the way to the top. Then, he thought about the one thing that he kept on him at all times. A pistol. Taking it out, he shot through one of the drones, which panicked and scared everyone in the center. Everybody got down and screamed as the drones spreaded out to catch him. He rushed into the elevator doors as it closed and he pressed the button all the way to the top floor. The center was surrounded by other buildings, so he made a plan to jump off the roof unto another roof until he arrived to safe ground and found somewhere to hide. The elevator doors opened and ran through to find a sort of exit to the rooftop. The drones were running up the stairs and he had to find an exit quick.

He looked up and found himself looking at a hatch door at the top. He needed a ladder, which had set on the wall beside him. "Perfect." He grabbed the tool beside him and set it up, climbing the bars and climbing up to the roof. He closed and smashed in the lock to the hatch door as he darted to the edge. It was pretty high, and he prayed to Primus that he wouldn't make one mistake. He jogged backwards and heard the hatch door trying to be pried open. Breathing in his intakes, he ran to the edge, jumped as time seemed to slow down and landed on the next building. He got up and checked his servos. Crazily enough, he smiled. "Still got it." The drones had arrived out of the shopping center and caught him. "Dammit!" He ran and jumped off more buildings and fortunately they got lower. He landed on the last building and hopped on the metallic ground. The drones kept coming at every minute and police vehicles were speeding to his direction. "Had to call in a full crowd much?" He transformed and sped the other way as drones and police cars chased him down the street.

"Cybertronian citizen! We do not appreciate doing this, but we are going to have to tase you down!" The cars unlatched a thin electrocution line from their cars, which emitted so much voltage that was able to weaken him. "Urr! Raaghh!" He shouted and got down on his servos and pedes. His helm crushed to the ground as an energon leak came from his mouth. The drones circled him, guns in their hands to take extra precaution. It was the last image he held before his optics offlined to black.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Loss

Of course, by a trial under jury, and a court rule, he was further ordered to be sent to Garrus-1 for illegal selling of energon, murder, thievery, and damage to innocent citizens. Throughout the trial, his helm was hung down as everyone looked at him with shame and unforgiveness. He deserved what he got: life in prison. As the court officer put him in cuffs and took him away to be delivered to Lunar 2 by the morning, he looked at his black servos. The same servos that had committed all his crimes.

"If you scream, you're dead." He pointed a gun at the mech and femme who held their servos in the air and shook with fear. "P-please, d-don't shoot! We'll give you anything you want. You can take all of our credits!" Impactor smirked and shook his helm. "Sure. Why do 'ya think I'm holdin' ya' at gunpoint. Pass me the credits. Make it quick." The two of them digged through their compartments to dig out whatever credits they had. "I said hurry it up!" The two of them gasped as they tried to find anymore credits but they were now empty. They handed it to him as he snatched it from their servos. He counted them quickly, just to make sure it was substantial amount.

The mech, who he wasn't aware had a gun for safety, took it out. Impactor looked up as the mech was about to shoot, but his instincts were quicker. Taking out his pistol, he shot the mech in his chassis, and the femme screamed as she got down on her knees. "O-oh my Primus. Please get up love!" Impactor looked down, regretting what he did to the mech, but he didn't have time to get caught by the police. He ran away in hopes of getting to his partner's hideout in time to pass him the credits. He opened his comm to call him. "Rundown! I'm heading your way! I got some credits from this couple but the guy pulled out a gun on me. I had to shoot him I-I-" He noticed that he was stuttering. Like Rundown said, 'he shouldn't be scared at a job like this'. "You had to do what you had to do kid. Just hurry your aft here." Then the comm ended. He heard lights flashing down the street signaling that they already went arrived at the scene.

Kaon had a bunch of neglected and poor building that all mostly looked the same, so sometimes it was hard to find Rundown's hideout. As he ran around the corner, he bumped into his friend from the mines. "Oh, h-hey! You scared me!" The mech confusingly stammered. "Um hey. Nice seein' ya' out here." For a moment, their brief encounter was awkward, mostly because Impactor kept looking over his shoulder. "You look scared. Is anything wrong?"

"No, I'm uh, fine. It's just, you know Kaon. Gotta watch your surroundins." The mech laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I understand. You look as if you're in a hurry, see you at work tomorrow." The mech walked off as Impactor waited for him to leave, and he darted off to Rundown's apartment.

Once he got to their rendezvous, Impactor gave him the credits that he had taken, which earned him an earnest smile. "Congrats. You finally did something on your own without my help."

"The mech took out a gun on me." Something in Impactor's voice made Rundown give him a disdained look. "You say it as if what you did was wrong. He was gonna shoot you, and you retaliated." Something in Impactor's spark made him writhe in the thought of death. Especially over an innocent bot. Just as his father did. "I know. I know Rundown it's just, that femme, she … I think they were bonded. When she fell to the ground to see if he was okay, her spark started to malfunction. They loved each other. They were close. I killed the one thing that probably mattered to her." Rundown could only grunt in a inattentive tone as he looked at his digits. "I want to tell you something," Impactor looked up at him as his helm was faced to the floor. "Throughout this whole thieving hobby, I've only learned one thing. Only the weak kill for revenge, sport, and just because they want to. But we're different. We kill because it is a means of surviving and protecting ourselves. Could you imagine that if we didn't kill those bots, that we would've been in jail?"

"You're sayin' it as if it's a good thing Rundown." Rundown could only look at him with a guilty look as he put an arm around his shoulders. "I understand that your sire passed away and all that. But you came to me for some credits. In a way, since knowin' ya', I've felt something, and swear to Primus that you won't tell anybody. You're almost like a son to me. I'm takin' care of you, helpin' you, you follow in my footsteps sometimes. Out of all my partners, I find you to be different out of all of them. You got the spark, and you treat people who understand our struggle like family." Rundown was society's prime example of what a sire shouldn't be. He was the good society's example of what a sire shouldn't be. In Kaon and places like Dead End, he was a prime example of what a sire was supposed to be. Impactor, for the first time in a little while, smiled genuinely. He laughed and looked up at the ceiling. "I didn't know you had the spark to tell me things like that 'Down. I really 'preciate it." Rundown's white and black faceplate softened as he felt Impactor put an arm around his shoulders.

"Ostaros! Come bring me the research papers immediately!" The purple mech's red optics glistened as he wrote down more notes on his findings. "Mesothulas, I am sorry sir. My processor has ceased me to sustain my duties." Mesothulas chuckled as Ostaros brought him his daily entree of servo salad, which he delightfully chewed on. "I think you mean that you merely were off daydreaming. It is okay, we all do." Ostaros, who was often told by his master and creator that he shouldn't ask about his inventions, saw some notes which piqued his curiosity of what exactly he was trying to create. "Sir, I don't mean to intrude of your work, but it seems as if you are just writing mathematical equations and categories such as laws. How exactly does mathematics, technology, and law have any exact correlation to each other in your newest invention?"

At times like these, Mesothulas often regretted giving him a fully functioning processor. For Primus' sake, he was just trying to create a drone. But of course, his intelligence got the best of him and he ended up creating something that went past his limits. "My newest invention, Ostaros, is going to be called Aequitas." Mesothulas got up from his seat and started to walk to his lab's window as if he was going to give a speech. Ostaros was used to this, he had been around him one ano-cycle by now. Yes, he counted. "Sir, I do not mean to be brash. But, is Aequitas going to be something like me? In a way, will he be another artificial Cybertronian?"

"Not exactly, my young minion. Aequitas won't be a mech or a femme. Aequitas will be more of "they"." Ostaros found this confusing on many levels and couldn't help but ask, "What exactly do you mean by "they"?"

"It will be a judge and jury. Remember that day I had left for a long while for the meeting with the Council? They insisted that to make the judicial system smaller and simpler, we could make one machine that would do it all with precise knowledge. This, invention, will be so intuitive, that no single mistake will be made in the court of law. No wrong trials, no wrong accusing. The math and technology will be the database for it because, as you already know, math and technology goes together to power something. The notes on laws, will be the input of Aequitas. The spark," He pointed to his chassis which made Ostaros gape, "-will be the Cybertronian's proof. To get the machine to work, a mech or femme in court will plug their spark connector into Aequita's input, there, it will judge them. Only a spark holds the core truth of one Cybertronian."

Ostaros cared for his creator dearly, but this idea made him uncomfortable. Especially since there would be a machine deciding whether or not someone should go to jail. "What if-what if it makes a mistake sir? It is just a robot, a mechanical device that has no spark. It cannot think. It cannot feel." Mesothulas turned around and scowled towards him. "Are you, a simple robot, trying to say that this invention of mine will not work?" Ostaros didn't want to anger him further, so he decided that he was just going to be what he originally was supposed to: an idiotic drone. "No, sir, I'm just being an idiot. Your marvelous ways fascinate me." He stopped scowling and pleasantly nodded. "I understand. Now forgive me. I must go back to my work. If you don't mind. By the way Ostaros, you can take a break, I'm going to be writing and studying for a while." With a nod of his head, Ostaros left him to resume his work and walked to the next room.

Although Mesothulas was a little, bossy, Ostaros had dreams of being in his position one day. Besides that, he wanted to be known. Nobody knew Ostaros, no one didn't even know that he was even alive. No one knew that an artificial Cybertronian could be made, or accomplished, but Mesothulas defied it. That's why he looked up to him. He defied things that probably couldn't be done. Fortunately, his creator gave him his own berth room that consisted of a desk and chair, a shelf where he could store his holo-vids and books, and his own mini lab kit, you know, the kind that younglings have, although Ostaros was created to be more bright than that. He sat down on his berth and reached for the book that he was reading since yesterday. Besides watching Mesothulas create something, Ostaros often found himself reading literature. He was fond of it, and besides being a scientist, he would pursue his passion of writing by being an author. Besides, writers had big imaginations, they often wrote about things that could never happen in their lifetime, or something they wished that could happen to them. That's what Ostaros wanted to write about. Things he aspired to be, things he wanted to see. Of course, it would never happen, Mesothulas wouldn't allow it to happen. Just for now, he would read his book as it brought him into another world of imagination.

"If I see that fragger one more time 'Spin! One more time! I swear, ooh, I'm gonna punch him. As a matter of fact, why not offline him for a cycle. I promised myself not to get in one single fight." They were both the only ones in the shower racks after a a cyber-week of not washing their afts. "This is jail 'Twist. One fight is just a drop in the smelting pool. Besides, he's a foiled up fragger. He wants respect but doesn't give it. What makes you think no one's gonna fight him sooner or later?"

"Can't believe this scrap," Twintwist turned off his shower stall and sat down on a bench behind them. "We don't deserve to be here. We deserve to be in fraggin'," He gestured towards the direction of where he thought Velocitron was, "We were supposed to be there. Livin' the life. Racing, partyin' every night, havin' fun everyday. Who knows how long we're supposed to be here." Topspin felt his spark tug a little at his brother who was feeling sadness. It had been awhile since he had consoled his brother.

Although the both of them were very much alike, they both had their small differences. Twintwist was scared of the unknown and he often didn't like being away from his brother for too long. He was especially afraid of the dark. Topspin was like the older brother (although they were both the same age), took care of his brother whenever he needed it, and often found himself to be more mature. Topspin sat down next to his brother and laid a blue servo on his white servo as he looked up at him. "How much do you wanna bet that we're gonna get outta here as soon as possible?"

"What do you mean? We have no one to bond us out."

"With the way things are goin' out there, we won't be the ones who really deserve to be here. They'll come to their senses."

They both stayed quiet hearing the water droplets come from the shower heads. "I hate the fact that we share a branched spark." Topspin looked at his brother. "What's wrong with that?"

"Lots of things. You know I can be a coward sometimes and I get more emotional than you. You have to feel it. Even though I know you hate it. The only good thing we have in common is that we're jump starters and we have fun together when we're reckless."

"And I enjoy every moment of it. I don't regret feeling what you feel. If I didn't, then where's the fun?" Twintwist laughed and shook his helm. "I guess, it's pretty amazing," He paused and smirked, "It feels much more amazing when you interface though." Topspin's bright white faceplate turned a small shade of light blue. "You fragging scrapheap! I knew you felt it when I asked if you did!" The prison washcrack turned into a towel throwing bonanza as they both play fought. Their laughing alarmed the warden, who stepped into the wash racks and couldn't help but stare at the foolishness in front of him. "What are you boys doin'!" They both stopped their fighting and turned around quickly. Twintwist smiled innocently as Topspin rolled his optics behind his visor. "We were just, uh, cleanin' up chief." Topspin lied to him. The warden, who looked down at the mess on the floor couldn't help but grumble. "Yeah, I think that's what you both should start doing." He then walked away leaving the two mechs to laugh at their foolishness. "We uh, should get this cleaned up."

"Agreed."

"Welcome to Garrus-1, the happiest place next to the Well of All Sparks!" The guard walked him through the shadowy, dirty, and death-like smell of the prison as inmates shouted and cursed at him. "Fortunately, recently a new inmate came here. Since he has no cellmate, we decided that you guys would get along fine. He's a quiet one. You seem like you aren't too rowdy yourself. Plus, he has no faceplate, if that makes you happy. Don't get too happy though. He might not be of your likin'." It wasn't like Impactor wasn't used to this kind of environment. He was in the mines after all.

Impactor's white faceplate scrunched up at the blue-like energon on the walls. It was even close to the pits here. They both arrived at his cell where his cellmate was quietly offlined. "Oh, and uh, we here at Garrus hope you guys don't try to kill each other right away. At least, get to know him for one day." With that, the guard shut the two mechs in together as Impactor sat on his berth, seeming to contemplate life.

For some reason, Impactor didn't want to leave the sickening place. After all, he had helped a fragging con-man. Although he had no further proof, he knew that Swindle was in charge of everything that happened. Why would he want to be free and live the burden of knowing that he destroyed something and somebody so important to someone? Anybody wouldn't enjoy that.

The navy blue protoform in front of him started to move in front of him, and he stared at the mech with an irritated frown. "So what do they call you?" Impactor turned his helm to him as the other mech had his helm to the wall. "Why's that your concern?"

"Is it such a crime for me to know who my own cell mate is?" Impactor uncomfortably recognized the mechs voice. He shook off the thought though. "I don't think you have to know who I am. I'm a nobody. Someone who's name shouldn't be said."

"You sound just like me from a long time ago. Before I lost my faceplate and all. But I understand. You probably committed a few murders, or lots of them. I wouldn't want to be known if I was a mass killer too."

"I'm not here for that."

"Then may I ask why?" Impactor didn't want to give this freak much details. "I just did things that weren't supposed to be done." The mech chuckled and replied calmly, "Same. Except, I'm really not supposed to be here." They both pondered their actions and exactly what they were going to say each other. "What 'bout you? Why'd they throw you in this scrap hole?" The mech finally turned around as Impactor tried not to smirk at his one optic. "If you really want to know about a part of my depressing life, I was originally a patient at a psych ward. They said me being there was a mistake and transferred me here."

"Bet you're probably wishin' that you're back at the nut house."

"In all honesty, I don't care. Garrus and the hospital are both the same in a way. Depressing, full of lost individuals. Honestly, I thought that this would be much worse. It is the same."

Impactor would have loved to be in the looney bin by now. "Hope the energon is at least a little decent." This made Whirl turn back around and look at the wall. "It tastes like moon dust, but it helps us live I guess." Impactor just couldn't put his digit on it. Whirl reminded him of someone that he worked with in his thieving days for a small while. He didn't want to interfere with asking him though. It would just be a waste of time trying to get an answer out of him about his past. His optics flicked up to the cell light, which flicked on and off then went out. If this wasn't Unicron's pit, he didn't know what was.

Guzzle walked towards the construction site with his helm held high and his personality confident. After all, it was his first day, he had to make a good impression of himself. Although Rotostorm and Guzzle took it pretty hard that he was leaving because he found work, they completely understood why he needed to leave. Of course, this earned him a motivational mech speech from Brawn and whining from Rotostorm for him to stay.

Long Haul told him that as soon as he arrived he would start working right away, so he made sure to get in a sufficient amount of energon that would keep him energized and fulfilled throughout the whole day. Cybertropolis wasn't all that bad, well, the traffic sure was. The sunlight from the building gleamed on the whole city and Guzzle noticed the meeting hall. A tower attached to it where Nominus stayed. If he could do it and not get in trouble for it, he would launch one of the construction site tools right through the fragger's window, but the law would catch him for doing so. "This is where we meet up for group meetings, mostly to talk about plans an' scrap."

"Cute … I guess."

"The boss' office is right there."

What the frag? Wasn't Long Haul the boss? "Thought you were the boss 'Haul." Guzzle said in confusion. "Nah, Scrapper is. He operates what everybody does 'round here. He barely comes out the office though." He replied with his extra deep voice. "So I'm guessin' that you're in charge of hiring." Long Haul nodded while Guzzle looked at all the construction bots working outside. "Since it's ya' first day, you deserve to meet some of us." He opened the door to the small construction site trailer. "Hey, scrap heaps! Get in here!" All of them looked up and stopped working, while the other two transformed and walked to the trailer. They all looked as if they had worked many cycles, but it was understandable. Construction did that to you. "Okay fellas, this is our new construction buddy, Guzzle. Treat him as if he was one of you." Guzzle found it kind of humorous that Bone Crusher was taller than everyone in the trailer, but instead, he waved as if he was getting introduced to a new race of beings.

"Hey. Hook's the name."

"Call me S-Scavenger. I'm the uh, nevermind."

"They call me Bonecrusher."

"I'm Mixmaster!"

Guzzle already felt as if he would pretty much enjoy all of their company. "And I, am Scrapper." All of them turned around to a mech with a red visor covered by a faceplate. "So, you're the new addition to our brood huh?"

"Yeah. Again, I thank you for lettin' this happen."

"It's no problem. We need all the help we can get right about now."

"Well, we really didn't Scrapper. Especially since we don't know what this stranger can do anyway." Hook couldn't hide away his snobbish personality. Guzzle already knew he wasn't going to get along with this one. "I might be just some small pickup, but I'm a lotta help and I hope I can be some sort of help to you."

They all looked at each other and agreed that he was good enough for the job. Scrapper wrapped an arm around Guzzle's shoulder as he took him outside the trailer to show what they were working on. "The Council wants us to build an archive. They figured since there's one in Crystal City already, why not have one in the second important city on Cybertron? Right now, we've already started with the base of it. It'll only take a quartex for me and my boys to get done with this little project. Long Haul mentioned that all you're really gonna do is carry around extra junk, but if you prove to us that you're actually worth something, I say we'll change your alt-mode and make you do more tasks."

"I promise that I won't let my specialty go to waste."

Scrapper chuckled. "Good. Boys! Let's get back to work!" In no time, they all started to resume what they were doing. It felt good to smell the clean metal of the construction site and hear the grinding gears and clunking of construction tools. "Hey! New guy!" Guzzle turned around as Hook threw unneeded junk to him. "You mind holdin' this for me?" Hook smirked and got back to what he was doing as Guzzle partially grunted.

He took a swig of some high grade he held in a small bottle. It could always keep him calm during his days of work. He cracked his neck as he got to work, putting trash into a pile of trash. He whistled in doing so as the Cybertronian sun shined brightly as it did everyday. *BOOM* Guzzle, startled, dropped everything out of his hands getting down on the ground to keep himself covered. His PTSD triggering him to do so urgently. The construction bots stopped what they were doing quickly as Scrapper ran out of the mobile hurriedly. It wasn't hard to see that Guzzle's PTSD wasn't triggering him. A bomb went off, dropping shards of glass from the tall tower of the Council Hall. The tower where Nominus Prime resided.

His offlined optics switched back on as he heard a door shut loudly in the lab. Unfortunately, Ostaros didn't have a chronometer, Mesothulas claimed it was unnecessary for him to have one anyway. With this setback, he was able to tell if it was nighttime if Mesothulas was done working and had went to his berth room for some rest, and so far he had heard no loud mutterings or sounds in the lab. What bothered Ostaros the most was that Mesothulas wouldn't have let him offline all day. Something in his spark told him to get up and check on him just to make sure if he was okay.

Rubbing his optics and walking to his berth room door, he opened it to reveal that the lab was cluttered. Papers had seemed to be flung on the floor and all over Mesothulas' desk as if he was in a scramble. He had just hoped that everything was alright. Should he call him somehow to make sure everything was okay? Maybe he should … he looked to the lock door that Mesothulas had forbidden him not to go through. No. He wouldn't just disobey his creator like that. What if it was dangerous out there? He wouldn't know what to expect.

At this point, he had decided it would be best to go back to his berth room and just read another book. Although, he had read all of those books already. All of them being read 108 times. Yes, he counted. At first, he had thought of this being his plan until he got back, but something in his spark made him wanted to read Mesothulas' notes on what he was working on. The scientist in him curiously wanted to learn from his creator's intelligent ways. He especially wanted to read the notes on that Aequitas, wanting to know about what it was and how it would be made. The trigger in his processor stopped him from looking over the notes. He could hear his creator's voice. "There are three things I forbid you to do while in the care of me and my laboratory. Never touch my research papers and outlines of my inventions. Never touch anything of importance in my lab, especially my inventions. Finally, never ever …" Ostaros looked to the door where he remembered his creator pointed, "-go through that door." The green mech's bright blue optics stared at the door from which he was dared never to go through.

The trigger in his processor stopped as he decided to take a risk. No. He went by his maker's desk where he found notes on different inventions from which he did and didn't tell Ostaros. He didn't find a single one on Aequitas though. To name a few, he had found some outlines for important-looking inventions such as stasis bullets, spark extractors, and even blueprints of future positive reinforcement prisons. Ostaros smiled as he realized how much these inventions would mean to Cybertron itself. Mesothulas was trying to make a better world, not just an advanced one. As he read through the notes, he spotted a holo-vid ball fall out of one of the data folders. It had a piece of paper stuck to it entitled: Artificial One. Curiously, his digits got the best of him as he reached for it, cupping the ball in his hand as he sat the ball down in front of him. The mech sat down cross-legged on the laboratory floor as he signaled to the ball "Start." A video began to play as Mesothulas wiggled the holo-vid ball to make sure it was positioned perfectly.

The purple, green, and gray mech stood back as his red optics gleamed at the little ball. "This is the fifth day that I have started to experiment on my artificial spark and hopefully will not be my last day if I get this correct. Again, as I have stated in my notes, I hope to make this in regards of not only extra help in my lab, but that hopefully I will make my own set of drones, with, which a snap of a digit and one single command, the drone will follow and individual's command. Not only will Cybertronian's live a carefree life of not having to touch a single chore in their life, but this will also allow me to build an economy off of it." He went to the glass ball which was held up by gravity. Electrifying-like waves was surrounded by it and Mesothulas was careful not to touch it. "This glass ball will be filled with a synthesized copy of the Matrix's energy field. I know that you're probably wondering 'why would you want to give a worthless drone a spark?'. You see, without the spark, the processor will never be able to make the drone capable of thinking. I want these robots to be as proficient and smart as possible. I want it to be able to understand and our problems that we need help with." Something in his voice made him sound like a mad scientist.

Ostaros watched in slight amazement as he turned down the spark energizers and and took the little artificial spark from its gravity holders. He held it into the camera as he laughed out loudly. "I can't believe this! It finally worked! I expected it to burst like the other ones did but it finally worked!" Ostaros smiled at the little spark and realized that it was his spark. He looked down at the blue, glowing spark which was latched into his chest plate and patted it. It would have been so amazing if Mesothulas made more. "Well, I'm going to have to put this spark in a special place until I get a protoform for it." He walked to the wall behind him and pressed something in as a door opened. Ostaros gasped. There was a secret door there the whole time? Mesothulas came out of the room as he closed and locked the door. "Now, excuse me as I get back to the rest of my work. I will make another video if I have any updates." The holo-vid shut off as Ostaros was left looking at the supposed secret door. Oh yeah, he was in for it if he went through that door. He could tell that without a doubt that room was completely forbidden for Mesothulas never told him about it. He got up and picked up the ball, sitting it quietly back on its spot on the desk.

He pressed his light green servo against the wall and put his helm against it. He knocked on the walls to try to hear any type of echo of depthness, but so far he didn't hear anything. Maybe Mesothulas got rid of that room a long time ago. Shrugging, Ostaros walked back to the center of the lab while looking around for something that could keep him interested. Again, he looked at the lab's outside door and pondered if…

He went to the door and checked to see if it was locked, which, unfortunately was. "So much for trying." He muttered to himself as he sat against the wall. What the pit was taking him so long? Where could he possibly be so important at this time of night?


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A Less Fortunate Freedom

Cybertron: Deca Cycles after Nominus' Death

Megatronus and two mechs by the name of Starscream and Soundwave were arrested and put on trial. The judge demanded them to be executed as the citizens of Cybertropolis shouted at them and threw whatever garbage they had.

At the center of Crystal City, a service was held for Nominus Prime. His pod held a holographic image of him for every Cybertronian in the crowd to see. Individuals who personally knew him talked about their memories with the leader while others stood in the crowd to hear the speeches. Everyone knew the real Nominus though. Power hungry, unfair, cared about nothing but himself, but he was still respectful, he was still the leader of Cybertron. He was still a Prime.

After the service ended, his funerary pod was sent to the Primal Basilica where he and the Matrix would be heavily guarded. Everyone decided to go to their homes and back to work as the rain from the Cybertronian sky started to fall. Orion and Ariel had their arms wrapped around each other as Dion looked at where the previous Prime was sat. "Without Nominus, who else is there going to be?" Ariel asked with a dejected tone. For a while, Orion and Dion didn't know what to say as they all stared off into the rain. "The elders and the Council will eventually come to a conclusion as to who will be the new Prime. For now, we'll pray to Primus that the new one isn't the same as Nominus was." The three of them started to walk off as the rain soaked their protoforms.

Garrus-1, of course, held a mini-memorial for Nominus as all the prisoners were set in cuffs to watch the holo-tv broadcasting the service. Whirl and Impactor sat by each other all the way in the back of the holo-vid room. Impactor looked down at the jail's floor as Whirl scratched his own miniature art into the room's table.

"I hope you know that everyone is glad he's finally dead." Whirl suddenly uttered as Impactor laughed quietly and dryly. "I'm pretty surprised it took 'em longer than I expected to wipe 'em out." After many arguments and fights and knocking Whirl comatose for a few days, Impactor began to agree with Whirl more than he could admit. To be honest, he was pretty glad that Whirl was his cellmate other than the other fools who wanted to do nothing but to kill their new occupants. "They should make this a national holiday. Don't you agree?" The two mechs turned to a blue and white mech who's ghostly and pale faceplate made him look pretty … frightening. His bright red optics were just there to prove the point. Impactor shook his head in humor as Whirl agreed. "Could you imagine how many people would celebrate?" The mech's deep and dried out voice made him sound as if he had shouted his entire life and finally got his voice back. "The Masses. I think most of the inmates here would agree. Speaking for myself, it is of great importance to my kind that the fool has been blown to bits." Impactor picked up a slightly uncomfortable vibe from the mech, but Whirl felt as if he wanted to get to know him.

"What are you two in for?" Something in the mech's voice made Impactor answer without much hesitation. "Murder, robbery, and-" He didn't want to say the other part of his wrongdoings, just in case it triggered someone to try to fight him. "-and uh, speedin'." Whirl looked at Impactor with a wide optic and then gave him an attitude glare. "So, you decide to tell a mech you just met what you did but refused to tell me after solar cycles of being here? Wow." Impactor rolled his optics as the mech seemed to sneer. "You've done quite much I see. I've actually been here for many cycles. For murder." Impactor didn't mean to sound like a smart-aft, but he answered back, "Murder or murders?" This made the mech smirk as if he was in a competition of who committed the most crimes. "I am sorry. Let me paraphrase myself. Murders. I meant murders." The three of them looked at each other, the mech smirking cockily towards Impactor as Whirl looked at them both mean-mugging each other. "So, uh, what did you mean by your "type"?"

"Well, not exactly a type, more so of a group of individuals. You see, I'm from Kaon. I was actually a gladiator who worked alongside the well-known Megatronus. Soon after, my habits-" Impactor noticed that the mech's arm started to move as if his servo was twitching. "-I mean, my anger, made me make a few mistakes. The criminal catchers finally caught me in the act of almost stabbing someone to death. I was arrested and put here of course."

"Wait wait wait! You fought beside Megatronus? The mech who killed Nominus?"

"Yes. Yes, I did." Impactor's optic started to twitch. For some odd reason, this mech got on his last nerves. He seemed so confident. The guards had told everyone that the service had ended and that everybody could return to their cells and occupations. The inmates started to walk back to their cells while the three mechs stayed at the table watching the crowd go away. "Jeez, I thought my life was more difficult than everyone's on this planet. Guess not eh?" Whirl exclaimed. "Good luck for us. They say the ones who've lived the hardest life get a better life in the end." Impactor cringed at his voice.

"Well, it was nice knowing you both. Hopefully, in time, you both will understand his death's importance. I hope that you-" He paused a little and looked at Impactor, a glint in his optic which made him want to get up from his seat and punch him, "-you both join in the real fight. Oh, by the way, you can call me Gigatron." He got up from the table as Impactor and Whirl both looked at his impressive height. He exited the room leaving Impactor's optic twitching heavily and Whirl staring confusingly. "What's with the optic?"

"Just a habit when I'm annoyed."

"The more time I spend with you, the more I learn about you."

They were both at her home as she sat on her berth looking through her berth room window. Her light green faceplate showed an unfortunate look as her bright blue optics looked at the rainy sky. His light brown faceplate shown as he kept taking small peers at her, making sure that she was alright. "Are you that sad that you can't talk to me?" She kept staring out the window and didn't answer for quite a while. But he was her mech-friend, she loved him with her spark and would possibly put herself on the line for him if she had to. "I-I don't know what to talk about. Our Prime, our leader, possibly the last prime to ever earn the Matrix, just got killed by the same bots that I hope would see change. Even though Nominus was a complete aft-hole, he didn't deserve to die. If he was still alive, he probably would've found it in himself to change for the better good. What if there's a new Prime and he's just like Nominus? Or worse than Nominus?"

His reddish-orange colored protoform shuffled as he grabbed her by her shoulders. Bright blue optics looking into dark blue ones. "Moon, I know this is hard for you, but you can't let this get you all the way down." She nodded as a glob welled in her throat. "It's crazy because I made that stupid speech for nothing. I feel as if my whole speech went down the gutter. Maybe, maybe, those rumors are right. Maybe, the lower caste is terrible." She looked down as he took her chin. "Moonracer. Get over it. He's dead. Things are gonna change. Things are gonna get better. Stop worryin' your pretty self about it."

"But Powerglide,"  
"But Moonie, stop worryin' so much."

"Stop telling me to stop worrying so much. I'm worried about my planet and that's all you can say? 'Stop worrying so much.' You always say that you say that when you're out doing something you're not supposed to like, like, cheating. Yeah, you do that constantly, and you constantly tell me to stop worrying blah this, and worrying blah blah this when you tell me you'll stop!"

Powerglide could only stare at her like the truth had hurt. Her protoform started to heat up, her light green faceplate turning a tinge of red. "This is my cue to go huh? I'll just leave." He got up and walked to the berth room door looking back as if he was expecting her to magically forgive him for what she said. Which was the most of the time. Instead, she kept looking out of the window, arms and pedes crossed. This time, she was serious. "I'll comm you when I get home safely." Then he exited himself from her berth room. She waited to hear her room door shut as she buried her helm in her arms and started feel coolant in her optics. Something in her spark told her to call Firestar, which was what she did.

"Hey Moonie! What's up?" The little green femme couldn't help herself from crying, she just couldn't speak. "Moon? Moon? What's wrong?" She wiped her optics as she realized that Firestar was probably worried. "Hey Firestar. Everything's-everything's fine. I just," She looked up to her room's door as her pink lips started to tremble, "I don't think he's coming back. I had to tell him how I felt, how what he was doing was affecting me. He just left without apologizing for what he's been doing. I just don't wanna be spark-broken anymore."

"Moon, I'm sad that you're sad but, but I'm happy that you let him go. He deserved it." It made Moonracer lighten up a bit hearing her friend's voice. "Yeah. I'm glad too."

"Do you want to meet up somewhere so we can talk?" Moonracer didn't have much energy to get up from her berth. The rain was too calming. "Nah I'll just stay here. Thanks for this little talk. I'm just gonna lay down."

"Okay. Comm me if you need anything. Love 'ya." The call ended and she laid her helm on her berth as she stared out of her window.

Penal Facility H-3:

The purple mech walked in the middle of the prison guards as they led him to the prison visitation room, his emotionless frame made everyone in the cells look up from whatever they were doing. They knew who he was. They knew what his plan was. The guards unlocked the door to the room pointing to which box to go to. He walked to the third visitation box, luckily he was the only one there. He sat on the chair as he waited for Megatronus to arrive, his one yellow optic intent on getting the big event prepared. A buzz was heard from the door behind the holographic window and the guards sat a cuffed Megatronus down on a chair. "Remember, you have fifteen cycles to talk with him, so make it as coolant-jerking as possible." The purple mech stayed eerily quiet as the guard gave him an uncomfortable look and walked out. "Shockwave. How delightful to see you. I am ashamed for you to see me in, bonds, but I trust that you will fix that."

"I am glad that you have appointed me as your successor, Megatronus. I am grateful to announce that I have more explosive energon created. Just enough to destroy facilities as humongous as this." Megatronus' smirk didn't frighten Shockwave, but if he was in front of any normal Cybertronian with feelings, a sight would have been difficult to look at. "I must know, Shockwave, how Cybertron has been doing since after our last plan."

"Nothing grand. Nominus is nothing but a mere part of history for our planet. The upper class doesn't know who should bear the Matrix now." Megatronus hated to voice the foolish mech's name. He was curious to know about him. "What about Orion? How much has he changed?" Shockwave didn't know much about the young archivist, so he stayed quiet to show that he was clueless. "I figure that he's living luxury under that idiotic peace-monger Alpha Trion. That fool doesn't understand a true potential leader when he views it." The anger that welled up in Megatronus' protoform made his red optics shine with a sort of hateful glow.

"It is such a shame Shockwave. I really trusted him to make Cybertron, fair, for all. Do you know what he does instead when I tell him what I think we should do," He stopped and chuckled bitterly, "He told me that being power hungry will not solve anything. I was not power hungry, I was simply proposing to the Council that I should be a leader for Cybertron. They all laughed like I was some jester bot with twisted circuits." He stopped talking as he thought about that day he and Orion talked to the Council. Embarrassment would be the best way to describe the meeting. "I have told every low caste citizen with dreams of being feared and power magnetizing what exactly you were trying to do Megatronus. In better words, I have set up an army. No one knows about our intentions yet, but sooner or later, they will understand that it wise for them to join us in our cause."

Megatronus smiled and grasped his servos together. "I appreciate your loyalty to me Shockwave." The buzzer rang again signaling that it was time for the inmate and his visitor to part their ways. The guards grabbed Megatronus as Shockwave stood up and walked away to the exit.

Once back to his cell, Starscream and Soundwave waited for the notorious gladiator to arrive so they could talk about their intentions. "So Megatronus, I assume that you and Shockwave have figured out what to do next." Starscream exclaimed in his snarky voice. "Yes, Starscream. It won't be too long before the Council and the upper-class shrivel in fear beneath our pedes."

"Hey! Here's all of your datapads with the work you have to do today." The guard through a data pad under the cell's door as Megatronus picked it up earning a persistent glare from Starscream and a dull quietness from Soundwave. Angrily, Megatronus smashed the datapad into a mirror of the cell, where he looked at the shatter it made. He scowled interestingly as the shattered glass made a sort of symbol of a Cybertronian face, ends pointed and sharp. This sign would symbolize his shattered ambitions.

Jhiaxian Academy of Advanced Technology:

The young theoretician typed more information into his datapad about his last studies in his course, everybody had left the class by now and he was the only one sitting there. It became sort of a regular thing for him since of course, he didn't have that many friends. "Skids! I knew I could find your aft in here!"

"Oh hey Trailblazer, what's up? Need help with an upcoming test again?"

"Nah, I'm looking for Glitch though. Have you seen em'?" Skids was in a class with Glitch, but so far, he hadn't seen him for awhile. Probably came down with a protoform cold. "Nope, haven't seen him lately. You know who's really been missing here for a while? Shockwave. He was supposed to help me after this class on my studies." Trailblazer shrugged and frowned. "Everybody said that he's probably sad about you know who." Then, Skids remembered, this was around the time that Jhiaxus, Senator Shockwave's teacher, had passed away to the AllSpark. "You could be correct. I just wouldn't peg Shockwave as an emotional type."

"Welp. What are you staying around here for? Let's go grab something to munch." Skids didn't have much of an appetite, but it would be nice if he went outside for a bit. "Sure, let me just pack this stuff up." Trailblazer left out as Skids packed away his things.

"You know Thundercracker, I don't understand it. How come us, smart and special individuals who can do something specifically different from other Cybertronians, get treated second-class just 'cause we're flyers?" Skids knew that voice. Skywarp. They were both the only flyers in the academy, Skywarp with the ability to teleport, Thundercracker the ability to create sonic booms. That was what the academy was about, enrolling bots who were different. Skids was just enrolled because he had the ability to learn any skill, which was very difficult for the average Cybertronian.

"I don't care. Just as long as I graduate and find my way in the world. Besides, there's nothing we can do about it anyway." If there was such a bigger jealousy in the world, Skids felt that. Flying was the best thing that Primus could bless a Cybertronian with. Why would anyone be ashamed of that? "Skids right?" He didn't even seem to notice Glitch's red protoform and one blue optic behind him. "Oh, hey uh, Glitch. Where've you been?"

"Oh yeah, I have been absent for awhile, huh? Well, I just caught a simple sickness. It felt kind of good staying in my holo-suite and listening to "The Empyrean Suite". I know Trailblazer wanted me though, said he needed help with something."

"Yeah, he came in here looking for you. Me and him were going to get lunch. Wanna come?"

"I'd be happy to." Skids grabbed his stuff as they began to walk off as he realized he forgot his datapad. "Hold on, just leave without me." He ran back to grab his pad as the room's lights suddenly went off. "What the? The building's probably having electrical issues. Maybe I should check it out." He went over to the room's light switch and tried to flick it but it still didn't budge.

"Guess I'll just go to the basement." Going over to the elevator and pressing its button the lower level, it opened to reveal that the whole basement's lights were shut out as well. He took a few handy repair tools out of his bag to fix the electrical box if it had a few loose wires, which was usually the problem in the building.

"Okay, let's see what we have here." He opened it to see that there were no loose wires whatsoever and that the switches weren't touched. He raised an optic ridge and scratched at his chin. "Odd." *Zrrr* He turned around suddenly and directed his flashlight to the sound. It sounded as if someone was down here building something. In all honesty, no one was permitted to be in the basement, unless it was a janitor. But Skids had a good reason to. "Hello? Hello? I don't think you're supposed to be down here, whoever you are." He peered in every corner of the dark hall until he spotted a bright, purple light in one of the rooms.

Slowly, his pedes walked until they found themselves in front of the room. "Oh my-" His bright yellow optics looked at the gallons and tons of bright purple energon which faced him. This wasn't regular energon. He turned of his flashlight and walked into the mysterious room and found himself looking around for any clue to what type of energon it was. He saw a few files stashed in a corner by a desk which he read with wide optics. "Datalog: These gallons of purple energon are enough to destroy a strong metal build. Use with extreme caution." Whoever was creating this stuff had to be making it for something important. The mech or femme had reformatted its chemical properties with explosive properties and bases. But who would want to create something like this? Maybe it was a project someone was working on. Skids tried to tell himself that, but he knew in his right processor that this was made for a more dangerous intent.

His blue protoform shined with purple as he walked over to the gallons of energon looking it over curiously. It was obvious that not only was it given explosive properties, but it took much electricity to use it, therefore the high power usage of it ended up shutting off the lights. A blue datapad sat by one of the gallons and he reached for it, starting to read it's Cybertronian language. "By developing the chemical properties of this energon-240 I have noticed that it is getting more powerful by each drop of toxic I add to it. For the time being, I will focus on explosive energon, but with the scientific advantages that I have discovered, maybe there will be a way to invent toxic energon that can burn through any material. Even metallic properties."

"Skids! Where are you!" Skids, in a panic, dropped the datapad and picked it up quickly answering his comm. "Sorry Glitch! I just had to come to the basement to check a fuse, that's all. I'll be there in a sec."

"Well hurry! Me and Trailblazer are starving." He closed the comm as Skids put the datapad in his bag, looking forward to reading it back in his holo-suite.

Perceptor sat in his laboratory along with Wheeljack at another desk, as they both worked on scientific assignments and did research on any new findings. Perceptor, who was supposed to work with Wheeljack on something, had directed his studies and optics elsewhere, to the purple energon they had found before during the bombings of the other cities.

"And what exactly are you trying to find Perceptor?" The red bot's blue optic looked back at the red, white, and green mech with a hint of annoyance. "I am trying to figure out who or what created this type of energon. The properties are so, new, that it scares me of what they might have in store. I know that Megatronus, Soundwave, and Starscream couldn't have created something like this. Someone made this for them, someone with a broad intelligence of science." Wheeljack rolled his optics and sat down on a chair beside him. "Do you 'Ceptor. I guess I'll try to make those data chips Prowl wanted so badly." Perceptor didn't give much care to reply as he looked over the energon with a microscope. He would have to report this chemical property to the Council immediately, let alone advise many people the dangers of it and to report it to the Council or law enforcement immediately. Who knows how much more is out there, and who exactly is creating it.

"Wheeljack, do you think you could get Chief Prowl on the line? I need to warn him about this. It would be safe for him to let his fellow authorities know about what we're dealing with here." Wheeljack nodded and commed Prowl on the lab's large computer where his white faceplate appeared on the screen. "Is there any reason why you're contacting me Perceptor, Wheeljack?"

"Yes, a very important reason indeed. I have done thorough studying of this energon and of course, it is highly explosive. This furthers my question about who is making it and has the chemical resources to create it. I want you to advise every police force of every city that they let their citizens know that if they do come into contact with this that everyone report it immediately."

"Got it. I'll let everyone know ASAP. By the way, I advise you to take a break from the research, you look older beyond your years." The computer went off as Perceptor ignored Prowl's backhanded comment. "There's a reason your voice sounds so troubled 'Ceptor? For Primus's sake, no one can get to this type of energon. If it's new, chances are it's very hard to find." Perceptor's suspicious thoughts still didn't falter even though he knew it was no reason to worry. "Just taking precaution. I think I'm going to head to my holo-suite and recharge. I'm feeling very exhausted." Wheeljack only gestured with his servo that he heard him as the scientist walked out the lab.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Time-Ticking

Ostaros awoke to the sound of the entrance door clicking, like someone was trying to figure out the code but failed their attempts. It was Mesothulas! He probably had much work to do and decided to finally come back home. Ostaros smiled widely but soon frowned when he didn't hear the voice of his creator.

"What was the code again?" A mysterious voice bellowed outside. "I think he said 2 … 4,7,8?" Who were these bots? Ostaros looked towards the lab's lockers and skidded over where he locked himself inside the compartment. It took the unknown bots a while to figure out the code but they successfully unlocked it, walking in and looking around suspiciously for something. "Well, let's do what Prowl said." The two identical white mechs started to gather all of the lab's belongings and papers, looking through things that was of some sort of importance. Ostaros tried hard to control his breathing, covering his mouth-plates with his servo but staring intently at the two mechs. Why exactly were they packing up different items? Where was Mesothulas while this was happening? This mysterious mech, Prowl, who was he? Why had he commanded them to do this?

"Prowl said something about removing all the data chips out of that computer. I'll do that, you go grab the rest of those notes." The other mech nodded and picked up al the clutter of data-pads while the other mech fondled with the computer. 'If only Mesothulas gave me some kind of communication device.' He thought to himself anxiously. The mech, who was picking up the notes, got up and checked through some rooms, including Ostaros's. "This one is locked! Did that mad scientist give you any key to this room?"

"Nah, that's probably where he keeps his exo-skeletons."

"Like weird mad science porn or something." The mech snickered. Ostaros slid back into the lockers and buried himself down and heard a 'clang' from beneath him. "What the-?" He looked down to see a wrench sitting on his aft. Mesothulas had used it once as a weapon to see if there were any robbers in the lab but luckily it was just a cyber-rat. Wait. Mechs. Weapon? Ostaros had never fought anyone before, nor did he know how strong these bots were, but if it was his only chance to get out of here unharmed, then so be it. Luckily, the two of them left the lab's door open so it wouldn't lock back.

"Okay…" He grabbed the wrench from beneath him and held it up to his bright blue spark, his breathing tensed and he looked out the tight compartment. "I got the data from the computer. How's it goin' in there?" Ostaros slowly creeped open the locker and quietly let his pede touch the floor. He slowly walked towards the mech at the computer who sat crouched at its controls. Holding the wrench up with his arms holding on to it tightly, he swung at the mech's helm knocking him out. "You okay in there?" The other mech walked out of the scientist's room and widened his optics as he saw the green mech anxiously staring back at him. "Stop right there!" The mech took out a gun as Ostaros stood there. What was that thing he was holding in his servos? Ostaros walked closer to the mech as *BLAM*. A shot rang out and hit Ostaros in the spark as he grunted and fell to the ground. For a minute, he felt as if his spark was slowly going out but it lit up again showing that he everything was still in good condition. This, contraption, the mech held was obviously used to hurt someone. Ostaros slid behind one of the lab's tables and went for cover holding his spark tightly. The mech had lifted up his arm and started to speak through some type of communication device on his plating. "Officer Prowl! There is some unidentified mech in the lab! Repeat, there is an unidentified mech in the lab!" Static came through the device as a rushed voice sounded through. "I've been informed by Mesothulas that the mech is just a drone. Just lock him in stasis cuffs and transport him here to the station immediately. Mesothulas doesn't want the little experiment being seen or heard."

The white mech answered back, "Yes sir." And shut off his communicator. "Okay drone. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way." Ostaros tightened his faceplate. He hated being called a drone. "Come from the behind that table. I'm sure Mesothulas wants you in one piece." Ostaraos looked to the wrench beside him and slowly stood up, servos and arms behind his back. "Now, come to me slowly, then turn around so I can lock the cuffs on you." Ostaros followed his orders and walked to him slowly. "Now turn around." The green bot did what he was commanded, but instead whipped the wrench from behind his back and hit the mech on top of his helm. He fell down earning a worried frown from Ostaros. He had to get out of here. Had to get to Mesothulas. Had to know what was going on.

Jhiaxian Academy Holo-Suites

"I just don't understand who took the time outta their fragging day to make something like this." Skids scratched at his dark blue helm as his bright yellow optics stared intently at the purple substance energon. "Probably just a science project went wrong." Glitch replied nonchalantly. Of course, Skids would expect a reply like that from someone who spent his time listening to classical music and lying in his berth like everything was perfectly fine. He was especially one-eyed, those type of bots never seemed to eye things normally. It's … a Cybertronian inside joke, heh. "Just doesn't correlate. This type of energon has been made with explosive properties. No one just makes this stuff by accident," He emphasized 'accident' strongly, "I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe I should talk to Professor Shockwave about it. He's good for this type of subject. Or, maybe, I could just to the authorities and let them know that I found this in the basement of one of the most prestigious schools on Cybertron." Glitch chuckled and sat upright on his berth. "Or … maybe you could take credit for it and earn lots of credits."

"Nah, that's wrong. I don't want anything to do with this. I'll just leave it on my desk and bring it to the police in the morning." He sat the cube down and reached to cut off the lamp on top of it, until his servo stopped in its tracks. The little cube was now glowing. "What the-OUCH!" The cube exploded as Skids hurried up and pulled his servo away. Glitch got up suddenly and rushed behind Skids. "What the frag? Why'd it just do that?" Skids completely forgot. The energon reacted strongly to electricity and he had accidently cut his wires which ignited a spark from the wiring. "Well so much for bringing it to the police. But, just maybe," Skids looked towards the holo-suite's door. His main intention to ask Shockwave if he knew about what was going on.

Crystal City National Police Station

"Do you even know what my main intention was of ordering you here, Mesothulas." Prowl closed the blind to the office and sat back down in his chair across from the confused scientist as the clock kept ticking in the background. A slight gulp emitted from him. "I understand that you've had some, concerns, Chief Prowl. You say you've been receiving … threats." Prowl's white faceplate dimmed in the half dark room as he started to go back in his chair. He put his arms on the table, servos intertwined. "I'm not asking for much scientist, but your intelligence. What exactly do you hold in your lab that is beneficial to our kind?" Mesothulas stayed silent for a moment trying to think of the right words to pick. "I-I make all types of things. I knew this day would come, that someone would just pick me from my quiet lab. It's alway been a trait of mine," He stopped to dryly chuckle, "I've always liked to stay hidden and away from the outside world as much as possible, like a spider from the caves of Archa-Seven. Again, I have to ask what my inventions have anything to do with … your plans."

Prowl smirked and shaked his helm. "You see, I have asked every technical officer in our station where the threats have came from but the security is so tough to pass that no one can tell me what basket case is sending these threats out. Do I have an idea about who might be sending them? Yes. My first guess would be the bots who were working with those three mechs who threw those bombs. My second guess, just some teen-bot who wants to cause paranoia as a funny joke." Prowl got up and held his servos behind his back while walking slowly. "The reason why I want your inventions Mesothulas, is because you have created prototypes of advanced technology that could help us take this situation into easier matters. If it is a terrorist threat, my men could use your stasis bullets and spark extractors to easily take them down." He stopped walking and stood behind Mesothulas who sat uncomfortably. He loomed over him and sat a gray servo on his shoulder. "And your price? Your price will be a new lab in Crystal City, which the city has kindly bought for you. A new computer, new hardware. You seem like a mech who would want to live without the fame so I could see to it that no one barely knows you. Plus, I've already ordered two of my mechs to go to your lab and retrieve all your items and put it in the new-"

"You had them go to my lab!" Prowl shifted back a bit at the scientist's reaction. He then cleared his vocaliser and brushed off his plating. "Yes. You have no reason to refuse this offer anyway. Because if you do," Prowl got closer to the his faceplate as Mesothulas seemed to shrink back in his chair. "Then half of our planet will possibly be blown to bits again. I don't want that to happen. Got it?" Mesothulas nodded quickly as Prowl stood back to his normal stance and smiled. "I'm glad that you'll help us with this trouble, scientist." Mesothulas smiled with fret as Prowl sat back down across him. The only thing crossing the scientist's processor was Ostaros. They probably spotted his greatest and unbelievable creation. Took him for themselves, and would show Cybertron and claim their fame.

"Now. Tell me what you have in store for us." Mesothulas had exit his thoughts to concentrate on the calm but serious mech in front of him. "I have things that could possibly take down an army."

Kaon Gladiatorial Pits

"So what does Megatron say of our future?" The plump purple and orange femme asked as she and her sparkmate held each other's servos. "To all of you he says that we will have a promised future. One that I can agree on. By logic, we will be feared by them. We are bigger, most of us stronger. Most of us possess what they wished they had: strength." All the individuals in the room started to smile hungrily, some of them frowning about having to hear enough lies.

"Enough with these preposterous lies of power over our planet and the inhabitants of this planet. We are poor, we were raised to believe we were nothing!" A mech by the name of Crucible shouted in rage, his huge dark purple servos balled in. Shockwave only looked at him and back to the crowd of the other gladiators. "You all have me and that is all that matters. I am one of the most successful and intelligent scientists on Cybertron. If not the same then higher than that fool Perceptor. I was the one who created the energon bombs just so we can give the upper-class a warning. If you trust in me, I am sure that in time the upper-class will work beneath you." Shockwave's form made him look a leader preceding over lost fools. The others had no other reason then to agree with him. "Luckily, I did the strategy that you asked for Shockwave. By the way, your welcome, it took me a while to figure out how we're gonna break 'em out with that energon." Shockwave looked down at Onslaught's outline. If he could, the faceless wouldn't have smiled but more so widen his optics. Onslaught continued at Shockwave's approval. "I say, we have Astro fly most of us over to H-3. Although it's heavily guarded with tight security I don't know exactly how-"

"I think I'll be good help with that." A black and gray bot with pointed spikes at the end of his shoulders came over, his yellow optics looked at Shockwave and Onslaught with devious plan. "Oh yeah, they call me Makeshift. Sometimes people just call me Shifter."

"Exactly how are you going to help our plan?" Shockwave asked with a hint of attitude. The mech then started to transform as his plating turned purple, his two yellow optics forming into one, his helm protruding out to look like the mech in front of him.

For a minute, everyone looked at the mech in surprise as Shockwave stared emotionless. Makeshift then started to talk, his voice using the same pitch and tone as Shockwaves. "This is why I am such a big help to your plan." He then transformed back and stretched out his arms, "It hurts me a little when I transform into bots a bit bigger than me but I'll be alright. I say, I'll transform as one of the guards, go inside and somehow retrieve the access to Megatron's cell codes, unlock it and get all three of those mechs outta there. Then, I blackout the whole facility and let everybody out." All the mechs and femmes in the room nodded at this idea as Shockwave only stared. "I have stored the explosive energon cubes here as you all can see. By the way Makeshift, you are the perfect addition to our plan indeed." Makeshift smirked.

Jhiaxian Academy

"I'm telling you what we found! Somebody wants to do something bad, I can feel it in my wiring!' Skids tried to persuade the campus security about the energon that he found earlier, but so far the mechs weren't fallin for it, instead they glared at him like he was crazy. Glitch stood behind him, one blue optic looking down in embarrassment. "Let me get this straight, kid. So, you found a purple like energon substance with uh, explosive properties. Correct?" Skids nodded his head crazily and the mech continued, "You say it's in the basement and that someone is going to use it for a bad purpose?" Again, Skids nodded and the security guard shook his helm. "Well, if you were telling the truth, I would've known about it. The janitor goes down there to get cleaning supplies and I'm sure if he saw it he woulda' reported it to me." Skids could only pause in disbelief as Glitch's protoform seemed to twitch. "You're kidding right now? This is an emergency! See, I'll prove it to you, follow me."

Skids started to walk to the building as the guard followed with servos behind his back. Glitch decided to stay behind for his own good, just in case the guard would think he was crazy right along with him. The two mechs headed to the elevator where Skids rushed to press the button down to the basement level, the guard only grunted and closed his optics in irritation. As soon as the elevator doors opened, Skids ran through, his white face-plate formed into excitement as he realized that he was doing good and saving an individual and individuals from jeopardy. "Look, right in-what the frag?" He stood in confusion in front of the room where he found the energon, the security guard beside him impatient. "What am I supposed to be lookin' at kid?" The energon … it was gone. All of it. Not even a single drop as evidence. "Look, sir, you gotta believe me it was," He gestured his arms over to where the energon had once sat, "Over there. You, you gotta call the authorities, tell them to be on the lookout."

The security guard stood a few inches away from Skid's faceplate, and Skids stopped talking suddenly. "Look kid, I. Don't. Care. What you saw. Got it? You probably should look inta' counselin'." The guard turned around and walked out, helm shaking. Skids wasn't crazy, he knew what he saw. "This isn't right. Something's going on." He went back to the elevator where he arrived at the main floor. Glitch was waiting outside impatiently, tapping a finger on the wall behind him. "Did you and the guard find the little stash of bombs?" Skids ignored his uncaring question and walked right past him as he decided to follow, just in case his acquaintance wouldn't get in anymore trouble. "Look Skids. Tell me what's goin' on. You're actin' like your circuits are fried."

"Those explosives weren't there like they were before. I think someones plotting something. I'm gonna go to the intercom room and make an announcement to everyone on campus to get the frag outta here before it's too late." Glitch stopped moving as Skids continued on.

He made it to the intercom room where fortunately nobody was there. He grabbed the microphone and turned up the volume giving off his warning. "All individuals on the premises of Jhiaxian Academy! Get off the campus grounds now! Go as far away from the vicinity now!" He waited to see if bots were running left from right, but they all walked out of each building, confusion on their faceplates. Everybody was standing around trying to figure out exactly what was going on as they scratched their helms and chins. They finally did heed his warning as they begun to walk out of the campus, calling other bots and the police. The security guard from earlier arrived in the intercom room and pointed a digit. "Didn't I tell ya' to stay outta trouble!? That's it! I'm takin' ya' to the station now!" Skids saw an open window where he jumped out and ran out the campus entrance and going to the station where he could notify the policemechs. Something sinister was at the work of somone.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Destruction

For a while, there was nothing but civilians attending their assigned duties, peacefulness, bots doing their casual hobbies while their smiles and frowns stuck to their faceplates. Everything was normal. Or at least it seemed.

Guzzle sat in the construction trailer as he fiddled with his digits. He had to wait for Scrapper to finish his work and he was becoming more impatient by the minute. He was really doubting this. The whole construction job wasn't working for him. Not that he got harsh treatment from his fellow workers, but because of the noises. From the machinery to the objects that were accidentally being dropped, it scared him. To most bots, it was humorous how he cowered when he heard a shatter from breaking glass, or just something being dropped. He took therapy for his mental situation but unfortunately it didn't help, much more like helped him.

To him, the loud sounds he heard were like bombs. Gun shots. His processor couldn't process the fact that what happened before was now over. He stopped going to therapy so he could live a normal life if anything control his anxiety, his thinking helped him to at least get some credits. He was embarrassed. He thought about it and decided that it would be best to not work. To retire. Although he wasn't old at all. He stopped thinking when he saw the holo-tv in front of him talking about the bombings again. This was literally the only important topic they talked about Cybertron. It was so sudden.

"Guzzle? Guzzle!" He stopped thinking as he looked up at his therapist who looked anxiously at his patient. "Yeah, yeah, sorry I was just … thinkin'."

"Do you think you can answer my question?" Guzzle looked at him and then looked back up at the light on the ceiling. "Could you repeat it?" The therapist sighed as his white digits traced over the blue data-pad. Guzzle didn't like this whole therapy thing. He didn't like being asked personal questions from his uneasy past. The therapist shifted in his seat and wiped off his light green lenses. "Guzzle. It is of great importance that you answer these questions. I know that these questions are too personal for you, but it would really help me to understand you better. I've even noticed that you show signs of PTSD." Guzzle's blue optics widened a bit and he seemed to lightly fake chuckle under his blue faceplate. "I don't have any PTSD. I told you, I just have anxiety attacks once in a while." The therapist nodded and frowned. "Guzzle, I have been in the psychology field for a short time now, basically I am just a student, and was given notification by the council that this would be my chosen field. I've met many patients ranging from multiple personality disorder to Primus apotheosis, a very rare mental illness. I am sure that I know the simple signs of PTSD. By our sessions, I have gotten out a few incomes from your personality."

"You've told me that you are very cautious mech and that you really really," He emphasized the word really, "Hate loud sounds. Were you a victim of the Software Incident in Polyhex? Am I not correct? A crazy mech entered the Polyhexian Institute of Technology and started to shoot at all of those people. I'm guessing that you hid as you heard the gunshots and screams. You were horrifically confused and to this day, the sight of seeing all those innocent bots dying and the screams that you heard, you still have nightmares time from time and sudden flashbacks. By your build, I can see that you do handy work." Guzzle looked down his build and looked back at the therapist. This mech was … very experienced with these type of diagnosis. "Yes, I am, uh, in the construction business."

"Is this your first time or have you worked other jobs besides the ones you're working now?"

"I've worked for four different-" The therapist raised an optic brow as Guzzle smiled and lifted up his arms in surrender. "Fraggit. You got me. I-I've got suspended from my job for fighting my boss. He uh, advised me to take a break, but a break equals no pay."

"And why exactly did he tell you to take a "break"? Was this merely him laying you off?" Guzzle looked down sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his helm.

"Yeah. I think it was his nice way of firing me. That's why I fought him." The therapist stayed quiet waiting for Guzzle to explain himself further. "Look, you're right okay? I hate fragging loud sounds. I hate it. It scares me, confuses me, brings back those memories. People don't listen to me. They just laugh. I only have two friends that understand my mental disability. I only planned to keep it confidential with them. Until you talked to me of course. Rung. Is that what they call you? Yeah, Rung, I have PTSD, and I've been shrugging it off for as long as I could remember."

Rung only closed his datapad and took his glasses off to rub at his optics. "I can only help you partially, but not completely. Your PTSD is not severe as compared to those who go outside, hear a glass shatter, and assume that a bomb is ticking. If you work with me to control your fear and forget about the past, you won't be laughed at and called upon as a coward. For the rest of our sessions, I am going to put you through a simulator. Not only will it help, but it will help you to control your fear. By the way, with the whole Empurata situation going on in Cybertron, I am very worried that your construction job is just not right for you. I think that you should get your form changed to something much simpler and take up another occupation." Guzzle winced at Rung's advice but shrugged his shoulders. "Sure. I'll look into it."

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""Racer, this always cheers you up. Remember?" Firestar made a harmlessly eccentric look to her best friend who only looked up in reply and continued to type on her datapad. "Don't tell me you're still crying over that flabbergasted slag-head."

Moonracer thought she did the right thing. Not think. Thought. Powerglide had not called her for awhile. He usually was the type to ask for second, third, fourth, fragging six chances, but so far she didn't hear a word. "He would've called by now. Just to check up on me. Anyways, I still have work to do. They expect me to enter this data-work into them."

"Uh, what data-work?"

"I didn't want to ruin the surprise but I feel like I should." Moonracer stood up, took a deep breath, and exclaimed, "I'm going back to Velocitron." Firestar's mouth held itself agape as she put her arms over her chassis. "And when exactly did you plan on telling me this?" Moonracer walked to her room's window as she looked to the city. "Ya know … ever since me and Powerglide parted ways I've been doing some thinking. I don't wanna stay on Cybertron and stay sad. I think I wanna go back to the place I called home. I miss, dirt racing, I miss Knockout and Override, I miss, I miss everything. There's no place like home they say." Firestar hated to agree with her best friend, but she smiled lightly. If Moonracer thought the best thing to do was go, she could go.

"You wanna leave me here on this planet by myself huh? With no best friend. Is that what you're saying?" Moonracer sat beside the orange femme-bot and hugged her. "You can come with too! I promise you'll love it there, from the racing stadiums to the energon. Pit, we might even find you a little mech-friend y'know what I'm sayin'?" They both laughed as their shoulders lightly pushed against each other. "Yeah. I'm gonna miss Cybertron with all my spark though. It was a fun run." Moonracer nodded as she looked at the small holo-photo of her and Powerglide hugging and laughing with each other while taking small kisses here and there. "Yeah. I'll really miss it too."

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"Floor 6 sub-level are you clear?" The comm the guards used echoed through the prison's sub-level. "Floor 6 sub-level we're clear, open cell 294." The guard's white plating stood dark underneath the shadows and the red lights glowing their way to the cell. "Remember fellas, one by one, all of 'em execution." One of the guards informed. They all nodded in reply as they made their way down the long hall.

"Cell 294, activated. Opening for entrance now." The cell door opened as the guards started to walk in, weapons up and armed just in caution. The three mechs stood up in stasis cuffs, Megatronus's hulking form standing while Starscream and Soundwave sat down quietly in their reserved corners. One of the guardsmen pulled out a datapad from which he read. "Cybertronian prisoners Megatronus, Starscream, and Soundwave, the facility, and the Council have ordered your execution on this day. We would like to know if there are any, if not a little, words or sentences that you would like to express before your parting to the Well of Allsparks." The three of them chose to stay quiet, squinting their optics in defeat.

The guards wasted no time in grabbing them by their arms and walking them to the execution room where they would meet their fate. Megatronus loved it. He loved how foolish everybody was. How foolish everybody was to meeting their own fate. The group entered the room as a metal electrical chair sat in the middle of the room. Next to it, in the corner of the room, was a sort of chamber. Probably used to gas someone. "What is this? An option of fast or slow death. The fastest one will suffice." Starscream sneered under his smirk. "We're not using the corroding chamber. Electrocution is a faster process for our prisoners." One of the guards explained. Soundwave looked at Megatron through his red visor, the quiet mech's lips pursed in a frown. "No matter then. Let us start this process."

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"Chief Prowl! There's a crazy mech out here talkin' some mess about energon bombs. I keep telling him to leave but he's not going anywhere!" Prowl sighed as he put his digits between his optics and grumbled. "There are twenty men out there who could taser him and you need my help Highbrow?"

"Yes sir. I feel like you should assure him that everything is alright." Prowl sighed and slammed his datapad down as he walked out his office door. The mech's shouting could be heard from down the hall and Prowl could tell that he'd have to punt the mech out the door.

"Look I'm tellin' you! The people at Jhiaxian Academy don't believe me but I'm sure you guys will! I found the explosive energon under the school's basement. Unfortunately, I have no incriminating evidence because someone grabbed it out the basement. You have to try to find it!" Prowl frowned as he grabbed the blue, red, and yellow mech by his shoulder. "Look, whatever your name is, I think you should return back to your little school and stop giving me these little theories. You have no proof whatsoever and I'm tired of the pranks, especially from bots your age."

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"You caught that race last night? Unbelievable, that blue mech sure knows how to race. That young speedster has a promising future if you ask me." The white guard chuckled while glaring at the security footage of the sub-level.

"Where's Megatron and his mini groupie?"

"Oh them? Their execution is today. Poor mechs. They're going straight to the pit."

"What room are they in?"

"If you're lookin' to see 'em perish they're gonna be in room 231. Execution room." The guard nodded. "Mind showing me where that room is. I'm new here and everything."

"Yeah sure. But stay close behind, I don't want you gettin' lost in this huge pithole." The guard got up from his seat as the two of them took the elevator down to the sub-level basement, "So how do you like the new job so far?"

"Pretty good. Though I'm more surprised that in a compound like this you guys just let anybody enter."

The guard looked at him confusingly as the elevator came to a halt at the sub-level. 'So this is where they stayed. Primus what a dump.' The two guards walked down a red hall full of cells with gruesome mechs staring at them through animalistic cages.

"Don't get too scared newbie. You'll be coming down here way more often than this." The other guard could only smirk in reply and look straight ahead at the execution room they awaited before them. The guard entered a key card into the room where Starscream, Soundwave, and Megatronus were still awaiting their deaths. "Looks like you unlucky three have a new visitor." Megatronus could only glare while Starscream got so mad that he almost melted through his bondage. Soundwave only looked back up and looked back down, not caring that more of an audience was awaiting his downfall.

Starscream couldn't hold in his shrieky tone. "Will you fools get this over with already! It's more torture leaving us impatient!" The guards chuckled and grabbed Starscream first to sit him in the electrocution chair. "Maximize to high voltage." One of the guards commanded. The mech had started to increase the electricity but was stopped from what he saw. The one guard started to transform himself in an odd manner revealing his true identity. "Wow. Didn't hurt that time."

"Freeze! Don't move!" The guards raised their weapons as Makeshift laughed bitterly and raised up his arms. "Bummer. You guys shouldn't have been so stupid."

Alarms after alarms were going off upstairs as comms started to channel. "Sub-level! Sub-level! Repeat sub-level! We have some issues up here! There's AARGH-"

"And that's my cue to get behind the cover range." Makeshift jumped away from the entrance of the execution room entrance as everybody gaped and guarded themselves. *Boom* Shouts and gunfire was heard as the entrance door exploded open. Shockwave, Astrotrain, and Blitzwing had made their way in with a Rumble and Frenzy eagerly waiting behind them to see Soundwave. Megatronus could only muster an evil smile as Starscream still complained in the death chair. "Will anybody get me out of here!" Shockwave had taken off everyone's stasis cuffs as Rumble and Frenzy ran to their boss and helped him up. "Geez Boss! Never thought we would see you like this!" Rumble exclaimed.

Megatronus stood up as he couldn't help giving some sort of thanks. "I am glad that the plan has worked out excellent so far. We will raid the other two prisons on Cybertron. We will also send some more forces to different cities on Cybertron, then we will recruit anyone who wants to join." Megatronus started to walk out the execution room as Shockwave stopped him with a touch on his shoulder. "And if they do not want to participate Megatronus?" The grey mech grimaced. "Then shoot them down and make them regret for not accepting our offer."

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"You want to leave already? Even though you've just gotten started?" Guzzle winced at Scrapper's offended tone but still cleared his vocalizer to show that he meant no hard feelings. "Scrapper I don't think ya' understand. I'm only more trouble for you and the other construction bots out there. I mean, you damn there see it all the time while I work. I have a mental problem and I don't think this is all right for me. I think everyone here is cool but I'll only just mess everyone up being scared and all."

Scrapper nodded and held out a servo. Guzzle looked down at his black servo in surprise and smiled half-heartedly while shaking it. "Guzzle. Good luck out there." For a moment, Guzzle thought he was doing something completely wrong, completely stupid. He had to understand why he was doing this though, doing it for his own good.

He walked out of the construction trailer as he heard one of the construction bots call after him. "Guzzle! Where ya' goin'?" Guzzle turned his helm to see a shy Scavenger walking up to him. Out of all of them, Scavenger, in a way, was the only one he could really get along with. Although his self-esteem was to the lowest pit, he had a spark and tried to make himself someone valuable. That made Guzzle like him even more. "I think I just need some time to myself. Some time to deal with my personal situation." Scavenger nodded and smiled genuinely, something that he rarely did since his smile was usually nervous. He sat a servo on Guzzle's shoulder who smiled back at him. "I uh, hope you get your s-situation figured out. You were really cool to work alongside with." Guzzle chuckled and thanked him. "Thanks, bud."

Now he'd have to give Rotorstorm and Brawn a call to let them know he'd be coming back home. He knew they'd probably invite the whole Primus damned city for his return and he rolled his optics comically. "Primus, I think I need some mech-fluid with a touch of radium." He spotted a tavern which he walked in to grab a drink. "Mech-fluid, a touch of radium please." He told the bartender.

A warning broadcast blurted on the holo-tv and Guzzle looked up in surprise as he took a sip of his drink.

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"Please remind me why we're best friends again."

"Maybe because they say "opposites attract"?" Ironfist used Pyro as a "lab rat" to test out his new sniper, a blue laser pointing at Pyro's helm. "Ironfist …. Primus help me if that thing is loaded. Let's not make that mistake from last time when you nearly blew my helm off."

Ironfist chuckled at his friend's nervousness. "Yeah sure it's loaded, but you're dealing with a gun expert here. I promise, nothing's gonna happen, just gotta check out the measurements on this thing." Pointing the laser at Pyro's helm he looked through the scope and fidgeted with it, until a vibration made him set off the gun and shoot it, luckily missing Pyro's helm by one inch. "What the frag was that!" Pyro shouted. Ironfist looked around his gun lab with wide optics. "What the pit?" He left the lab to check outside as he saw a tank surrounded by different mechs and femmes rolling through the streets of Praxus. Ironfist and Pyro could only stare as they heard shots ring out.

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Twintwist and Topspin threw down different cards while on the ground in their cell. "Double ace fragger! Now you're gonna have to take over my cleaning shift." Topspin muttered at his brother's look. "Let me check those cards, I know you're cheating!"

"What the hell is that?" Exclaimed Twintwist as he looked out of his cell's window. There were several jets flying through the skies."

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Impactor lifted some more weights and grunted while doing so. This was something he did to get things off his mind. When he was being unproductive he found himself thinking of unwanted things. It was Whirl's free time, of course, so he sat at a table from the other side of him fixing and making clocks. This was the only place that allowed him to do something he was prevented to do in Polyhex. "You know, I never understood that. Why do they put weights in here and we're only mechanical beings? The only time we really bulk up is when we get an upgrade or something. Kinda defeats the purpose of exercising." Whirl said. Impactor rolled his optics annoyingly, this mech was a little bit too truthful for him.

An alarm went off in the gym room as Impactor sat up quickly. "I'm praying to Primus this place just caught on fire." Whirl comically exclaimed. Impactor shushed him as he heard something that he normally didn't hear in this place. Yeah, you occasionally hear shouting, but not shouting, alarms, and …. Gun shots?

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Moonracer and Firestar laughed with each other as they both walked out of a paint shop. "You should really get your plating changed to red and orange instead of orange. Fits your name and sty le. Firestar looked up snobbishly with her faceplate in the air. "It does doesn't it. I'll consider that in the future." They both giggled with each other until Moonracer looked up to the sky.

"What's going on up there?" The two femmes stayed in place as the aircrafts above them seemed to be circling Cybertropolis's perimeter. _Was there some type of air show going on today_? Moonracer's bright, blue optics widened as she saw the aircrafts unlatch something from their carriers. The substance. That same purple substance.

"Firestar!" The purple substance dropped as everyone looked up in confusion. It came down in the middle of Cybertropolis causing a loud explosion and maximum damage. Moonracer couldn't feel her legs at first as she looked up at Firestar beside her who was unconsciously lying there. She grabbed her friend's light orange servo and started to shake her a bit. "F-Firestar … get up…"

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Ostaros found himself lost. This place was new, different, and by the looks of it, destructive. Everything was set ablaze in a fire, different bots were running everywhere shouting. People in their alt modes were crashing into each other.

There were some mechs literally killing different bots. Ostaros could see why Mesothulas wanted him to never be in the outside world. Ostaros ran off away from the killings, he had to find Mesothulas to ask him what was going on. Unbeknownst to him, a beeping device was stuck inside his internal build, a tracker where Mesothulas could find him.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

A Simple Soldier

Post War (Cybertron)

"..." He stared out the suite's window as he said nothing but only patted a digit against his leg. This only happened around the time that his systems wanted to go into recharge, but unfortunately, with his condition, that was a no-go, so instead he was plugged up to get his vitals relaxed. His nightmares were too horrific for him to go into recharge, it could possibly put him into stasis lock. The nightmares were worse than the flashbacks. He was sat in the recovering infirmary, one of the very first patients to be sat there when the war started.

"Guzzle?" The recharged like mech looked up in a sort of daze at one of the doctors in the infirmary unit. "How are you doing?" Guzzle chose not to answer. That question sounded too rhetorical. "I-I'm First Aid. A nursing unit bot here on Delphi. I've heard so much about you. I've heard so much about your situation. I understand right now you're recharging but I've come here to give you some pretty good news." This mech was very intelligent for his age. He could tell just by listening to his voice. He was the color of most medi-bots: red and white. "You see, I've done some thorough research on your PTSD. It is severe and I'm afraid that no medicine can help but surgery can. Fortunately, I let one of my medical friends know about your problem and he happily wants to assist. He is a mnemosurgist."

Guzzle only stared back out the infirmary's window, his processor voided of all thoughts at the time being. The medi-bot had frowned underneath his white faceplate and grabbed his servo. "If there's anything you need, don't be afraid to talk to me. I know I'm kind of new at this sort of stuff, but you can trust me." This kid sure did have a lot of spark to try to help someone with problems like his. Patting his shoulder softly, First Aid got up and left the infirmary.

"He didn't talk." First Aid told the mnemosurgist waiting outside of the mental infirmary room. "His PTSD is extremely severe then, or it's probably because his internal systems were in recharge mode." The two mechs walked down the hallway as First Aid looked down in sadness. "I don't know Chromedome. I'm really surprised that his mental issue wasn't looked into further. At first, Pharma thought it was better to consider him processor dead since his PTSD won't put him of any use on the battlefield. I told him that it wasn't a good idea, maybe his processor needs a…" Chromedome looked at him through his yellow visor and nodded. "Is this you asking me to mind wipe his processor? The answer is yes: I'll do it. These type of operations are extremely risky though. If I work intently enough, I might just be able to clear out his processor's database for any events in his life that caused his problem."

First Aid didn't want to lose the risk of helping his patient. "I'd want you to do it anyway."

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Kimia Weapons Facility

"Watch it, this is radioactive liquid we're dealing with here." The two mechs poured in the substance into some glass beakers filling it to the brim. When the war started, he and his best friend parted their ways and he put his work and passion to use. He worked under Wheeljack who helped him create some weapons.

They sat the tub of liquid down and wiped at their helms. "We need to convert this stuff into gas right? You know I'm not good with the science stuff. That's on you." Wheeljack stiffened and pointed a digit at him. "I think you should learn that "science stuff". Science is what's helping us not getting our plating handed to us out there in the battlefield." The short mech laughed at Wheeljack's sensitivity towards science and rolled his optics. "Alright, alright. But let me make it clear that I'm good with just building and handling." If there was an easier job in the war, it would be working in the ballistics department. Even though it wasn't all the action he could get from fighting out in battle, he considered his job to be pretty awesome with the fact that he was literally making new weapons for the Autobots. "Ironfist. Look here."

"What's up?" Wheeljack poured the beaker into a heated metal converter as the gas from it rose up into the gas contraption. "Now, do you mind being a test subject momentarily." At first, Ironfist felt himself getting anxious, but he remembered when he use to do the same to his best friend. "'Kay. Just don't frag up Wheeljack."

"Don't worry kid I won't. Now, I'm gonna put the gas into a shelled bullet and shoot it at you. Fortunately and uh … unfortunately, the bullets don't kill anyone they just turn a subject into … glass only for a temporary amount of time." Ironfist frowned at the temporary part. "Temporary? How much temporary are we talkin' about?" Wheeljack smirked and shot one bullet into Ironfist's arm to which he mustered a whimper at the pain. Amazingly, it didn't leave his arm in bad condition. It had only turned into sensitive glass material. "Primus, my arm's glass!" Wheeljack chuckled at Ironfist's wide optics and walked up to him, touching the arm that was affected by the bullet.

"I'm sure the Cons haven't come up with somethin' like this yet. When we use these bullets in the battlefield it'll send those cons into retreat. These bullets are also good for those seekers, we shoot these babies at 'em and they'll fall and break. Since their glass … of course." Ironfist made sure not to make a wrong move and hit his arm anywhere. "How long is my arm gonna stay like this?" Wheeljack thought about this and smiled. "Only for two cycles. I advise you not to trip and fall on yourself, knowing how clumsy you are." Ironfist grumbled as Wheeljack comically grunted. "And Ironfist, you can take a break. Get some energon or somethin' or relax while I work on my helm fins." Ironfist snorted. "What exactly are you trying to do with your helm?"

"Aah, nothing much. Since I modified my helm to faceplate mode when I'm out in battle, I figured, why not have something a little extra to it. You'll see when I'm finished." Ironfist nodded and held up his glass arm. "I think I'm just gonna go and write some more blueprints. Never enough time in this war to have a break." Wheeljack nodded and waved as Ironfist made his way out of the facility.

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His optics roamed over the primal-like planet as he held his rifle in his servos. The humidity was pretty unbearable and the humongous insects made it even worse. His green faceplate seethed in concentration as he listened out for any uncanny noises or saw anything peculiar. "C'mon c'mon c'mon…"

He wasn't going to go down without winning this. A sudden movement was heard behind him and he swiveled over to see that the culprit had left the leaves moving back and forth. The green mech smirked as he realized the enemy was afraid of coming out. He was playing this game again. He was trying to make this slightly more difficult than he usually made it. He had made it to the edge of a small hill and he looked straight down it. Had the scrapheap decided to run away from the fight?

He raised an optic ridge in confusion. "RAAGH!" The decepticon lounged unto his back as the two mechs stumbled down the hill and landed into a water creek. He had regained his attention as the decepticon lifted his weapon towards his finned-like helm. "It's over, Autobot."

Luckily, the mech had enough pede room to trip the decepticon over, getting on top of him, and blasting him right in the faceplate. "One down, one more to go." He walked deeper into the forest as he kept his sniper near. This obviously was needed in a setting like this. Thousands of years of training and battles you'd think would make this mech an expert on the battlefield. In a very broad aspect, he was only 25,000 years old, he wasn't that experienced.

Holding his sniper close to his chassis, he pointed it around at the skies. Decepticon drones were pretty idiotic when it came up to being stealthy, but a small portion of them had enough processor space to figure out that stealth helped you in a fight.

Slipping down another damp hill, the mech spotted about ten Decepticon drones all around each other, guarding some neutral hostages. _Welp, guess my fists won't help me here._ He threw down a grenade as some of the drones looked in surprise while the others ran to cover. "Five down, five more to go." He hopped down as the drones started to fire. He missed every line of fire, landing down on one decepticon drone knocking him out and down. "Who's next?" He smirked. The drones powered up their weapons as he ran away from the bullets and lasers. He took cover behind a huge rock. The explosion from the grenade caused a mech's helm to be right beside him. "Remember, use the resources around you." He threw the mech's offlined helm towards a bot which bounced off his helm and to another mech's helm. This startled them, offering him enough time to shoot at a few of them.

He ran up to the last two and fought them. He slammed into one and used the mech as a shield as the other drone shot at them. "Half-clocks." The other drone, stunned that he didn't kill the green mech instead, was shot down by his rifle. "Knew I could handle something more than a one-on-one. Turn off the simulator." The setting disappeared as he took off the simulator visor and was in the blank white room. He walked through the door's exit as he saw Kup watching the simulator through a holo-screen. "Well kid, you could've did better."

"Better? Define better?"

"I don't know. You're just a little too reluctant to be seen. I'm kinda proud you used your ability to your potential. They don't call you Springer for nothin'."

Springer smirked and cockily grabbed his hips. "But I could've done "better" huh? I beat YOUR high score old mech." Kup chuckled and grabbed his shoulder. "When I get my systems refurbished and oiled, don't cry when I twist your arm off on a one-on-one combat." Springer made his way to the break room as he waved to some mechs he knew.

" _Sideswipe to Civil Defense … Sideswipe to Civil Defense answer!"_

Springer raised an optic ridge and answered the computer's line, "Sideswipe, Springer here! What's wrong?"

" _We've lost coordinates to the raw energon mines here on Hydrophena. Can you bots over there try to find a energy signal?"_

"Blaster, do you think you could send a signal over to them? You're pretty good with this type of stuff."

"Well thanks for acknowledging one of my assets." Blaster started to type on the computer as Cybertronian wording popped up everywhere on the screen. Scratching his helm confusingly he commed back to Hydrophena. "There's your coordinates … seems like all that energon is stuck in a lower region over there. You guys might needa' go underground it seems … be careful guys."

" _Thanks, we'll comm you guys back if there's any problems."_

"Ol' Hydrophena, the red underwater planet they call it," Kup remembered. "Anyway, I'm kinda surprised they traveled all the way there for fraggin' energon."

"It's more reserves there, crystallized energon reserves I mean. They grow in damp areas more easily. Hopefully, the Cons aren't patrolling over there, then we'd need to send over some reinforcements."

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He sat on the floor of his berth room as his pedes sat up and he took another drink of his high grade. Primus … how much did he drink? His stash was starting to really run out. Oh well. Maybe he could drink himself in a stupor and put himself in stasis lock. The war was important … sure-but how did it benefit him? Killing cons made him feel good. Made him feel superior. But honestly, the autobots and cons are just alike. Most of them don't kill because it's their duty. They do it because it brings power, a prize. Such as good intentions from your superiors. Yeah, fraggin' superiors. Him? Hmmph. Superiors were nothing but mechs and femmes who had a little bit of say-so. "Frag."

He groaned as he got up from his sitting position. It felt like he'd been sitting like this for awhile. Again he tried to notify himself that he wasn't old. Not yet. Just a little creaky in certain parts. Sitting down for a long period of time does that you ya'know. He reached for a few bolts and screws and unlatched a pistol from the side of his leg. Lately, it had been acting up and that-was not good. Although the barely used it in the battlefield, it helped with many emergencies. He wasn't a weapon technician or anything like that, so chances were that he'd need to go … he looked at his berth room's door and grunted. He'd have to "socialize". As in ask another bot to fix his pistol. He wasn't much of a talker like he use to be either. The war kept him too occupied to talk to irrelevant bots. He switched on a small light as he got work on his weapon. His yellow optics wandered around the schematics of the device as his digits turned every screw and messed with the trigger. Don't worry kids. It wasn't loaded.

His one optic twitched twice as he finally came up with the realization that he'd need to go out of his way to get another pistol. He'd miss this baby. Helped him a lot. Now it was time to upgrade. Which meant … that he'd have to travel to Kimia … for a fragging gun. Not only would he embarrassed to walk in front of everyone with a plating that was dented and dirty, he'd probably lose his processor and choke somebody from all the whispers and pointing. "Oh well. If it does happen, at least I'll be back in prison again. Not too bad … compared to this mess."

Being in solitary confinement while being fed low-grade energon wasn't too bad. Well. Nevermind. It would have been even worse if he was cellmates with that- who was he again? Oh yeah, that literally crazy mech, Whirl. Wonder what happened to him? Probably somewhere making ticking time bombs. He was a fan of clocks. He'd have to hurry up and get that pistol though. He knew it wouldn't be long until he was stationed to the forefront of battle. He grabbed the weapon and walked to the exit of his hab suite. As he walked out, he caught sight of a red femme with a blue visor. The femme was pretty annoying, but what would someone expect from the "cousin" of Blaster. "How's it goin' there Impact? Haven't been outta that room of yours in days."

"I've been … thinkin', Vibes."

"Aren't we all, but you oughta get some fresh air. Oh and … clean yourself up why dontcha?"

His plan wasn't to clean himself up when he was just going to get dirty again. What's the purpose? So he could go out there and look like some regal war hero with his yellow plating? Sounds awesome, but he wasn't interested. He didn't want to live his life like some … fairytale.

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Iacon: The Great Dome

He rubbed his digits among the red Autobot shining boldly on his chest and sighed looking into the mirror before him. This … wasn't easy. Yes, you were cherished by the thousands that followed you and given the utmost respect. Yes, wherever you went mechs and femmes alike gave you this … this look of amazement and awe. But, in his position, bots didn't understand that he was, if not the only, savior of their entire race. He didn't wish this burden on anyone, the burden of having to hold one of the most important forces of the universe in your chassis, having to … having to lead. Having to fight someone you considered not only a friend, but a brother. He was the youngest prime to ever hold the matrix. It was so sudden, he wasn't even given the proper training for this, to handle this possesion. He had to remember what Trion told him though. About having the confidence to achieve something even though you never expected it.

"Prime?" Optimus turned to his room entrance as he saw his old friend and top commander. "Come in, old friend. What is it that you need?"

"I'm just checking on you. I know that you like to keep to yourself, but it's no harm in checking on a good friend. Especially one that you've fought beside many times … a Prime at that." Optimus mentally sighed. That word again: Prime. "I am just in thought about everything, Magnus. Being in high position is very difficult but each day I live by Alpha Trion's word. He is one of the reasons I am so strong." The illustrious leader felt a servo on his shoulder and he turned with an expressionless faceplate. "Don't weigh yourself like this Op-Prime. You have many that admire you. You're one of the reasons why the neutrals are becoming Autobots. Not to sound too humorous in this situation, but I feel as if Megatron is jealous of your leadership." A small smile formed on the great Prime's face and he nodded. "Noted."

"Excuse me? Prime, Magnus. Elita would appreciate if you both met her in the meeting hall along with some other guests." Highbrow said as he walked through the door. They both nodded as they began to follow him down to the meeting hall as Optimus still held an emotionless look. Well, most of the he did, he stopped smiling much after he carried the Matrix. He also lost his contagious laugh. The myths weren't a lie when they said the Matrix would make you serious. As they walked into the meeting hall a huge circular-shaped table was in front of them. Consisting of the group was Elita, Perceptor, and Dai Atlas who waited for the Prime and Magnus.

"Please, sit. You wouldn't want to miss this." Dai Atlas exclaimed as the two mechs sat down in their seats. "Dai Atlas, Perceptor, Highbrow-" Prime nodded to the mechs and looked towards Elita who he smiled a bit towards, "Elita," A slight blush overcame her faceplates as she heard her name, "Welcome. Would you all mind informing me of the topic." Dai Atlas cleared his vocal chords and smirked, "Thank you, Optimus Prime. Recently Intelligence intel has located computer screen data from the Decepticon headquarters. The Decepticons seem to have schematics of a ship of some sort. We think that the Decepticons are planning something more than a cargo-hold. Weapon of mass destruction? Possibly. Until then-" Atlas looked at Highbrow as he finished for him, "-We hope that this isn't a weapon they are planning for a full course attack."

Perceptor looked between Optimus and Ultra Magnus as Elita only sighed and diverted her optics at the surface of the metal table. Everyone was waiting for the Prime to speak, and of course, he had something to say of the situation, "Intel Commander Highbrow. Does anyone besides the Intelligence group know of this?" Highbrow frowned and replied, "Of course not. We've decided to keep this confidential to not cause any fear or uproar. It is entirely up to you, Prime, if you want to let this information out into the public."

Elita looked at Optimus with "no" in her optics. "Yes Highbrow," Dai Atlas's optic brow quirked up a bit as Ultra Magnus sat back in his chair. Elita looked around the room disbelieved. "I think that it is best to tell our fellow Autobots of the information we just received. Any moment this, plan, could become reality, and I feel as if we must build something to equate the Decepticons." Perceptor took out a data-pad and started to type. "The science guild and I will start this immediately when Intel provides us with the schematics of the ship."

Everyone nodded except Elita, who could only frown from what she heard Optimus say. The meeting ended as Elita hurriedly got up out of her chair and walked quickly through one of the exits. Optimus looked on as Dai Atlas stood beside him. "Believe me, Prime, she'll get over it. Soon she'll learn how wise this decision you made was." Optimus could only give a small nod and reply, "Elita cares about every individual's feelings." That was one of her downfalls and that was one of the reasons he loved her. Magnus only walked beside him and sighed. "You know, Optimus, I highly agree with this information going out to the public. I understand why you've done what you did. I don't for one moment wish fear unto anyone, but so be it. This is war."

Oh, being Prime meant you had to make decisions.

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"What. The frag. Is wrong with you?" His blue optics darkened a bit at his anger and his brother continued to wash himself in the wash rack. "I had to do it. Air force wasn't coming quick enough. The bomb would have denoted and would've killed all of us. Doesn't matter if we're jumpstarters or not."

"I hate when you do this!" His servo balled into a fist as he punched the metal wall near his brother who didn't flinch, or maybe did, he wore a visor, so nobody knows. "I hate when you, when you, play fragging hero. You know that? The bomb almost KILLED you. Almost blew you up until you were nothing but nuts and bolts. Did you forget? We share a spark Spin. We share a SPARK!" Topspin let the water flow down his frame and kept rubbing the places where he got hurt. "If you die, I die, no matter what happens. Is that you want? Do you even care?"

"Let is got Twintwist."

"L-let is go?! Topspin! You almost died! I saw what happened on the feed!" Topspin smirked and started to laugh as his twin sat there in confusion contemplating to put his brother in a mental institution. "Twist. It was a dud. Gotcha." Twintwist sat there a few more seconds until he realized what was happening. "You mean, the feed, you just showed me, was you in training?"

"Yeah. Just, getting you back from what you did to me at Moon Base." He turned off the shower stalls and walked away whistling at his brother's trembling protoform. "I'm going to kill you!" He followed his brother out and knocked him down to the ground as they started to wrestle. Topspin laughed as Twintwist let out a small growl at his brother's prank. "Don't you ever, ever, never, ever, do that to me again! Okay?" Topspin started to stop as he noticed his brother stopped fake wrestling and cuddling into his chassis, his helm low. "H-hey, don't-Twist." Twintwist was in no shape or form lighter in weight than him, but he could still pick him up surprisingly. Things like this happened a lot. Especially during the war. Sometimes pranks seemed to surreal and Twintwist couldn't handle it, especially if it had something to do with his brother getting fake hurt or dead. Even though he could real life feel it, he still worried that his reckless twin would get hurt by the cons.

"Whatcha doin'? Put me down Spin you know I hate when you pick me up like I'm some sparkling or some scrap."

"Can't help it. You act like a fragging sparkling. I'm never gonna go away. 'Kay? I'm just gonna stay, 'cause, you're here, and you're alive. I have no reason to go. Now get up, they commed me before I got into the showers saying we go to Polyhex. Got some back-up they need." He got up and looked back at his brother who grinned. "One day, this scrap ain't gonna be a prank, but for now let's not wish on it."


End file.
